MLK Day

I work with (not for) the federal government and we're all here even though all of the people we deal with are off.

 

I make it a habit to read his "I have a dream speech" every year on MLK day.

It is a beautifully written and powerful speech. His best lines were his last: "And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

It's really pretty stunning to think that in 1963 we were still so backwards as a country.

 

While King certainly contributed to society and is worthy of recognition, the "holiday" part of it is just another reason for government employees to get a paid day off. The only months that don't have federal holidays are March, June and August, but April and Novermber get 2.

Jan.=MLK; Feb.=Pres Day; March=none; April=Good Friday and Easter Monday; May=Memorial Day; June=none; July+4th; Aug.=none; Sept.+Labor Day; Oct.=Columbus Day (are you kidding me?); Nov.=Veterans Day and Thanksgiving; Dec.=Christmas.

Most businesses recognize about five of those. If the federal/local governments elminated the others as paid days off for all its employees, how quickly would that help (not fix) the budget?

Yes, I admit to being somewhat bitter thanks to a poor career choice. It works out OK because I get paid for working the main holidays, but it pisses me off when some jackwad yells "3 day weekend."

 

On a different MLK-related topic, my kids are out of school today and my wife asked my 7-year-old son last week who MLK was so he understood why he wasn't in school.

He had a very cursory idea of who he was, so she explained that he was a man who wanted to do good for his people and to bring all people together.

My 7-year-old knew he had been shot and killed, and when my wife told him what he was all about, he got emotional.

"So they shot him because he wanted to make the world a better place? Why?

Then came the kicker that got to me as a parent.

"They killed him before I ever got a chance to meet him."

I wasn't there when he said that, but I wish I had been. I'm glad to know he takes things like that to heart. He feels much the same way about Abraham Lincoln.

 

The one that galls me is having schools closed today. Oh hell no. Put their asses in chairs and educate them on some of the truly heinous shit that went down.

 

The hope would be that there are field trips backed up out the door at the national historic site. I just checked the Web site, and they are, in fact, open today, for what it's worth.

 

Yup. And I wish schools would teach kids that Dr. King's death probably had more to do with him supporting striking workers than it did with racism.

 

So it's all about when it's convenient for people to have a day off. And will any their thoughts be on MLK on that day off?

 

Today is a great day because I don't work federal holidays.

 

How does he feel about Bill Ayers?

 

In the U.S., no. Aside from what your union might negotiate, there are no statutory holidays that private employers have to give, nor is there any statutory right to paid time off. Every newspaper I ever worked at there paid for the big six: Christmas, New Year's, Memorial Day, the Fourth, Labor Day and Thanksgiving. I think only the last one paid time and a half for working, although at the others, you did get a day off in lieu.

The only real regulation governing paid time off is that if you've earned paid time off under an accrual system, it can't be taken away from you, other than through pre-determined expiration dates. (Though those expiration dates have a habit of moving with not a whole lot of notice.)

 

Thanks. Now I get it.

I forgot to mention we also get Victoria Day (in May)--believe it or not, to commemorate Queen Victoria's birthday--but really an excuse for a long weekend at the end of May and two provincials: Family Day in February and a "Civic" holiday the first Monday in August--another excuse for a long weekend.

I should add that if you work in retail, you're pretty much screwed. Some malls were even open on Christmas.