Throughout the course of history, man has wondered about the world around himself and the relationships with his fellow men and women. The scribes of the ancient civilizations laid down various accounts of our human-ness in times of peace and war, through want and plenty. The legacy of our seed is out there to be read, to be lived and to be contemplated with a critical eye . Take the time to be thankful for the freedom
to express our views, no matter how critical they may appear.

Enjoy the following essays, added 9/6/1999.

As we close out the last tourist season for the 1900s, we should take a moment to consider the holiday that celebrates the worker in America. Taken quite literally, Labor Day is a national legal holiday to do . . . well, nothing. That doesn't go to say that labor day is a layoff day. For millions of us we have the campground to make or the boat to tow, or maybe grill that pig in the back yard. It is a day that literally requires no work. No special saints or patrons to honor, unless one wants to celebrate the original founders of Labor Day as a holiday, union men and women who carved a magnificent society in America -- masons, carpenters, engineers, planners and the countless laborers whose toil and sweat erected Manhattan and rebuilt Chicago in the late 19th century.

The first Labor day was celebrated as a union holiday on Sept. 5, 1883 in New York City, adopted by the Central Labor Union in New York by declaring it a "workingman's holiday", a day to parade the cause for brotherhood and picnic like a family. The unions set aside Sept. 5th each year to honor themselves and Labor Day gradually found its way to each of the states and was adopted by Congress in 1894. All across America, men and women took the first Monday in September and celebrated their labors. The three day weekend is known in every resort town as the end of the summer tourist season, as schools opened for the fall terms, and vacationers returned to their work lives. Other than this significant end of the tourist season, Labor Day is a totally non-commercial event. In today's consumer mad, must-have-it-now society, where any inane gadget could turn into the next hula hoop, our traditional holidays are marked by massive sales pitches about everything from egg nog to firecrackers to cranberry sauce. Marketing people have the Christmas lineup ready to go right now and you better get ready because it's coming soon. Labor Day, on the other hand, pays no homage to any commercial tradition other than to enjoy a day off to do anything you like.

Millennium Man wants to celebrate the day by honoring all those people everywhere who work for a living. No magnificent acknowledgment other than to enjoy the day with friends and family. But it's not just a day to honor the Joe Hills, and rever the fiery words of the Samuel Gompers of the past millennium who fought and died for the rights of all common men, no matter to what way of life they were employed. More suitably, it's time to celebrate the true hero of Labor Day -- the American worker himself. Thank you, for a job well done.

One of the greatest documents produced in this millennium was the Magna Carta. This great charter, written in 1215, was the basis for modern law, establishing certain liberties and freedoms for Britons and protecting these rights by force from the throne. The laws were simple and easily understood by all, illiterate and scholars alike, and woe to those who disobeyed them, for the sheriff would have them arrested and duly punished for their breaches. Some five hundred years later, Thomas Jefferson and his fellow patriots used the great charter as a guideline for the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights, establishing liberties for all Americans. The law was there, etched in stone, and here too, one didn't want to breach any of them because the penalties were enforced.

Basically, these documents spelled out on paper sensible attitudes to which all men could adhere. Don't steal from one another, don't kill your fellow man, etc. When a gentleman entered into an agreement with another gentleman, their handshake was all that was needed because a gentleman said what he meant and always meant what he said.

In the two centuries since the constitutional convention issued the bill of rights, the laws of this land that we love have been amended and edited with so many suppositions and clauses that the common man cannot interpret the rules by common sense any longer and must use an attorney to guarantee that his day in court is fair. Lawyers by the millions have left law school, setting out to make their marks in practices of business law, real estate law and criminal law. But the point of law and the lawyer today is not to interpret as much as it is to keep the common man common and confused as to the ways and means of the justice system. Just try to represent yourself in court sometime and see what we mean.

Attorneys have gone on to advertise on bus benches, the yellow pages, and the Internet, and one need only trip on a banana peel in a public place and the hounds come out of the woodwork, ready to litigate compensation. The entire process of neighbor suing neighbor makes a sham of the whole intent of the bill of rights. Lawyers are not in the fight for what's right anymore, nor are they fighting for justice, but more and more are in the hunt for money.

Millennium Man believes in the simplicity of common sense and fairness. If we all acted with these premises as a guide, we would leave the lawyers to argue their cases in the park or other harmless places and let us get on with our lives in peace and harmony.

Politics of Pot

You can tell it's an election year when all the candidates are defending themselves from past sins and gross behavior during their irresponsible youth, long before they were thinking of running for public office. Candidate George Bush has all but admitted to snorting cocaine in his sordid past, conveniently using his patented doublespeak to leave the voting public thoroughly confused as to what he really means. And Bill Clinton can finally admit he inhaled way back when, after he leaves office. Why do they employ all those spin doctors who invent the doublespeak anyway? They should do like any normal, red-blooded American job applicant would do in the same situation -- lie. It's not like we wouldn't expect our fearless leaders to be one hundred per cent honest with us. It's pretty much a given that they are lying to us most of the time. We don't really care anymore, as long as they keep us above water in the world economy.

But what is the issue anyway? Anybody who went through college in the 60s or 70s will attest to the casual use of marijuana, cocaine, and other assorted illegal substances. Hell, amphetamines like bennies (benzedrine) made the transition from being called 'truck drivers helpers' to 'study aids' and made their way around every campus in America, bar none, in the sixties. How else could one attend a keg party all night and get his homework done for the next morning's history class?

But the casual use of drugs is not the issue here. The point of this statement is that we are all older and wiser now and, unless George Bush still takes a toot once in a while, we can forgive his transgressions. We've been there ourselves, Mr. Candidate, and we succeeded to raise families, hold positions in our communities, and retire with pensions. The Christian Right Wing coalition will be the first group to support the fallen man who has seen the light and changed his ways. Repenting sins is a hard thing to do, but one must first admit to them, at least to himself.

Millennium Man is a child of the sixties and knows that most of the people who experimented with marijuana and other casual drugs in college have become upstanding citizens, even office holders. So pick up your pants, George, and spill the truth. We've all been there at one point or other in our lives. Get with it. . . you have only votes to lose.

Bitches and Doormats

A man walked up to his boss and told him he had a grievance with his wages. Seems that a guy across the shop was doing the same job but getting more pay then he was. The boss gave some lame excuse about seniority or experience but the man persisted vehemently. Union grievers growled with management until the matter was finally corrected.

Across town a woman calls the pharmacy and orders a prescription. Later, she goes to the counter to find it's not ready and, what's worse, they didn't have the available drugs to complete the prescription in the first place. She asks the pharmacist why he let her walk all the way to the store when he could have explained they didn't have the quantity in the beginning. Or he could have phoned to say there was a delay. She tells him to forget it and goes to another pharmacy to get her order. Pretty simple scenario, eh? Many of us would have done exactly the same thing. But, not only does she leave the store an unhappy customer but to the pharmacist, she's a bitch.

Think about it. You talk to a friend about some troubling issues and she tells you things that may not be nice to hear but will inevitably straighten out your problems. She's being honest with you, but . . . since she is not saying nice things about your situation, she's a bitch. And it's a sure bet you don't talk to her that often anymore. What is it about a woman that when she sheds light on someone else's shortcomings she's a bitch? You ask for an opinion and she gives it to you. It is not what you want to hear but she is telling the bare bones truth. What a bitch, you think!!

It's tough being a woman in this day and age. If you speak your mind, you're a bitch. But what then, if you don't speak your mind? Instead, you say whatever it is your friends want to hear, or you say nothing at all to the pharmacist and nod and smile and go on your way. . . then you're a doormat and people will use you and abuse you. That's the way it is in female America, you're either a bitch or a doormat.

We live in a fast paced country where quality has diminished and customer service on the everyday level is mediocre at best and nonexistent in some places. And when a woman recognizes that, why can't she let someone know there is a problem without anyone copping an attitude? Millennium Man knows every one of us has a right to quality goods and services. And when the goods or services are anything but satisfactory, you must stand up for honesty and truth in advertising and do what's right. If you're a man it's easier to get away with but, if you are a woman and they think you're a bitch for it, so what? You'll get it off your chest and be better off for it and, you just may get some action the doormat would surely have missed.