I set out to write about Labor Day. So naturally, I looked for a definition: Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.
Well, there is certainly everything positive to celebrate about that. Except that it’s Covid, it is shelter in place, it is a time when many of those workers can’t go to work. Others work from home and are stressed by both working and Zoom-schooling their kids. So while I could whip up a lot of well-deserved support for the working person, internally that fell flat.
I turned my thoughts to the current moment. What collective endeavor is required of us? In what individual and collective ways shall we labor.
And the immediate reply to my questioning was: language. We can say we speak our native language, and perhaps that’s it. We can say we speak a second or third language. I have such admiration for those who speak multiple languages!
And then I realized, wait. There is a realm where we speak common languages we forget to measure.
As a nation, we’ve currently been speaking the languages of division, fear, and so sadly, hate. We’ve also been speaking the languages of depression, anxiety, relapse, overdose, and dis-connection as we fall into our phones and social media and out of personal connection.
As individuals and families, we’ve been speaking the languages of stressed out workers and stressed out parents and stressed out kids and stressed out students.
This is bleak. Yet you know me, if you’re reading this newsletter. And that is not the end, nor sum, of this story. Because there are four languages we all know. There are four important languages we can all practice now.
The first three languages are Laughter, Kindness, and Listening.
There really is no more direct expression of connection than a laugh. Be it with a good friend, or family member, or someone who see in a store while you’re both wearing masks.
Kindness, I believe, is inherent in our species. Because I believe in the best of humans (though we spend a lot of time ‘proving’ the opposite), I know in my bones that 97% of us are capable of small, medium, and great acts of kindness.
Listening is the not-talking part of language. It is the not moving part of dance that makes the dance powerful. It is the rest beat in a song that makes the music move you. The power of truly listening to one another supports people at a life-affirming level.
That fourth shared language? I’ll give you a few hints. It is spoken of in song and theatre, ruminated upon by the young and old, expressed by parents and children and family and friends. It is the most spoken about language in the world, yet perhaps the one that can become the most difficult to express. You guessed it, right?
It is the language of love.
It costs nothing and everything to express, so that makes this language available to all. There’s no money needed to speak this language. The only currency is willingness to take a risk, and willingness to be vulnerable.
My wish for you this Labor Day is that you will embrace any and all labor connected to speaking the languages of Laughter, Kindness, Listening, and Love.