End of summer

For years I have thought that when July 4^th had come and gone, summer was winding down. To me, the end of summer was not marked by Labor Day, but by July 4^th. After the flags were down and the fireworks stored, back to school supplies were displayed. By the middle of August, Halloween decorations and candy are on the shelves. When October rolls in, Christmas decorations are everywhere.

My head is spinning.

Retail pushes us forward. New clothes. New backpacks. Our bathing suits are barely dry, and we need move on to Halloween costumes.

 School has started, now we plan for Christmas. The pace wears us out and makes us grumpy.

What happened to the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer? Were they ever lazy and hazy?

The summertime of my youth held picnics and pools. I sat in the sun for too many hours. Friends were in and out of the house. But the world beyond my youthful lazy, haziness ground on in hot tobacco fields and sweaty jobs.

Mother never stopped her chores. Driving us everywhere, making sure our time was fun. She told me once, “the time will come when the workload is on you. Enjoy your youth.”

When I think of the gift of carefree youth, I also think of all the people in the world and in this country whose lives have never been carefree. Too many struggle just to get by. In a better world, people would not go hungry. The plenty of the American garden is enough to feed the world.

SNAP has been defunded. USAID has been disbanded. The hungry will get hungrier. Thank goodness school is starting. Kids will have breakfast and lunch at least.

The abundance enjoyed by many doesn’t trickle down to the least and most needy. If we were truly righteous, such need would not happen.

In the Hallmark world, the royal encounters a poor person who is kind to him. The kindness changes the king’s life. The castle doors swing open and a great feast is offered to everyone who will come.

The Bible recounts a similar story. The poor are welcomed. The rich can find their comfort in what they already have. In the Bible, it is suggested that the rich give away their wealth and give others a place at the table.

So many people are being cut out of the American dream, will there be any but the ultra-rich left?  Let’s hope they know how to do the laundry, cook a meal or change a tire.

Lazy haziness blinds us to the real life need that sits just beyond our own experiences.

A news alert popped up on my phone yesterday that said the numbers of children in Gaza who are hungry and poor is alarming. They have no place to live, no schools to attend. It’s the same thing in Ukraine and Sudan. The children are not being spared the very worst of humanity. They are bearing the brunt of cruel leaders who seem to value nothing but their own desires.

How did we get to such a sinful place?

It is not right for children or anyone to live in fear and desperate conditions. Surely, we are better than this. When children lose their innocence in the realities of war,  poverty, and hate, wonder is lost. Curiosity is thwarted. Basic survival does not have a very big band width.

It’s like Maslow’s hierarchy of human need. Food, water, shelter and safety are at the bottom of the triangle. Self-actualization is the peak of the triangle. The peak is where people live what they are created to live. Lazy haziness happens here.

Our systems deny a lot of people to live life at the top of the triangle. Toil and struggle mark too many lives.

End of summer means back to work. We have work to do. God has work for us to do. Too many of us are selfish with a scarcity mentality. And it may get worse before it gets better.

Lib Campbell is a retired Methodist pastor, retreat leader, columnist and host of the blogsite www.avirtualchurch.com. She can be contacted at libcam05@gmail.com