Today's Gospel reading is disruptive to most people's versions of justice.  I suppose that it's one of the reasons why I like it so much.

In the Gospel, Jesus tells a parable about a vineyard owner who sends his overseers to hire people at several times through the day.  At the end of the day, starting with those who only did a few hours' worth of work, he pays every worker for a full day's wage.  The ones who worked the entire day, having seen the ones who worked for a shorter period of time paid the full day's wage, are angered when they receive the same amount.  The owner asks them why they are upset.  They have received what was promised them.  Why should they be upset that he was generous to others who were not as fortunate to find work at the beginning of the day.

This is what I love about Jesus's style.  He asks us to examine our most basic prejudices, preconceptions, and desires.  We are reminded in today's first reading that our "way are not [God's] ways," that God's thoughts are as high above our thoughts as the heavens are above the Earth.  This isn't bragging; it's a challenge, a lofty standard that we need to stretch out and reach.  In this case he warns us about "fairness."

"I worked longer, so I deserve more" is what the first workers are demanding, but God's justice is greater than that.  What about the unlucky?  What about those who still do the work, but join late due to circumstance?  Doesn't everyone deserve the full day's wage?  

I think of the men who gathered in job markets and street corners during the Great Depression.  All of them needed money for their families.  All of them were willing to take nearly any type of job.  Some would wait around all day with nothing to show for it.  Some would only get a few hours of work and thus a few hours of pay.  Jesus tells us that ALL need to be fed, provided for, and protected.

Of course, this parable is often quoted when talking about our ultimate salvation, but I believe that Jesus is telling us that this relates to our day-to-day lives.  Our economies should be based on this.  Our lives should be lived this way.  We need to rethink our concepts of fairness and justice.  We need to grasp for the ideals that Jesus has set for us.

Union-bashing has become much more rampant in the past few years.  Legislation with innocuous names such as "Right to Work" has been passed to actually undermine the rights of the workers.  Even today, a national holiday that is supposed to show the importance of the working class in America, finds many of the workers its supposed to be celebrating still hard at work with little cause for celebration.

Somehow, corporate politicians have led people to believe that safer working conditions, a living wage, and decent work schedules are un-American.  People have voted away their rights to fair pay, affordable education, and healthcare due to fear-mongering and downright misinformation.  Instead, they keep voting for tax-cuts to corporations and the highest paid citizens, the ability for jobs to be more easily moved overseas, and the legalization of environmentally damaging practices.   Ironically, they do so, usually believing that they are voting in their own best interests, even though the only real benefactors have been the richest 1% (not even 10%) of Americans.

I have stated before that there needs to be a Worker's Bill of Rights.  Without this sort of protection, corporations can buy legislation that tears away the rights of most Americans.  Perhaps this Labor Day, people will remember that simple standards such as the 40 hour work week and breaks in shifts longer than four hours were hard fought rights, but they were not meant to be the end (let alone be whittled away).  Maybe we can even remind those naysayers that America's economy improved under these changes to become the dominant economy in the world.

I have been reading a book on the lives of saints, reflecting on them on the days given to them (usually the day of their deaths).  Yesterday's and today's saints both had quotations that inspired something within me.

When I fed the poor, they called me a saint.  When I asked, "Why are they poor?" they called me a communist.
-Hélder Câmara

This idea sums up most of what I think about politics and economics.  People claim that they want to help the poor, but they do not want to examine the system that causes poverty in the first place.  Politicians often manage to put the blame of poverty on the people who are its greatest victims instead of accusing the true sources of unequal wealth distribution.  People who do point out the true cause are labeled as communist, socialist, or revolutionary.

Do not seek to understand in order to believe, but believe so that you may understand.
-Augustine of Hippo

I have seen so many good people get this idea backwards.  They want come kind of unequivocal proof before they are willing to believe in God.  I believe that the proof is in every breath we draw, in every atom that composes every piece of our world.  Because people deny what they see around them, how can any evidence persuade them?

For the past two weeks, the highway near Grass Lake has been under construction.  This, in itself, is not much of a surprise as that section of road has been under some sort of construction for the past several years.  This time, however, the normally four-lane highway has been brought down to two lanes, one lane each way.  As a result, my normal hour-long drive to work (and back home) has been extended by ten to thirty minutes.  The difference in time is not as much due to the amount of traffic, but the courtesy of the drivers on the road.

If all drivers simply merged to the correct lane when they reached the signs that indicated the need to merge, traffic would still slow down, but 20 mph (half the minimum speed limit) would be the absolute slowest we would go.  We would be able to travel faster if there was less than complete congestion on the road.  Instead, I often find myself at a dead stop, often for minutes, and then a slow crawl until I finally get to the single lane, where I finally get to the above mentioned minimum speed or more.

The culprit?  A lack of courtesy and general self-absorption of most drivers.  These are the drivers who wait until the last possible moment to merge with traffic.  Somehow, they believe that I, who have already merged, don’t want to get to my job or loved ones as much as they do.  Instead of all of us getting to our destinations with relatively little hassle, all of us end up at a hostile dead stop.  Because of this stopped traffic, what would have been a minor inconvenience has become several miles of gridlock.

Blessed are the semi-truck drivers who pull into the passing lane and pace the merged line, assuring that the egocentric drivers can’t keep the merged cars stuck in limbo forever.  Without them, I might never get home.  Instead, I can leave a comfortable distance between myself and the car in front of me, knowing that these sheparding semis will keep the people merging in front of me down to only a car or two.

It is the mentality of these passing lane morons that keeps screwing up economies around the world.  In an ideal world, we would all act responsibly and co-exist peacefully in a free market.  Unfortunately, the truth is that the moment there is a mild tightening in the economy (or even disasters, either natural or financial), people try to gun past as many others as they can.  Instead of working together and moving forward until we pass the crisis, we are brought to a full and complete stop, making an already irritating situation downright infuriating.  If it weren’t for government agencies and altruistic companies who can act as those semi-trucks and reign in some of the more aggressive drivers, we would never get anywhere.  Yes, I would be happier if they didn’t have to be there, but I’m glad that someone is able and willing to stand up for principles beyond the get-rich-quick scheme.

I’ve been told that my belief is naively optimistic, that it’s a dog-eat-dog world, and that it is better to take than be taken advantage of.  There might be some truth there.  However, foolish or not, I will continue to merge at the signs and give plenty of space for others to do the same.  Perhaps, if we can spread the word far enough, we will all move forward together.