The price of vacation

At this time of year, many of us greet friends and colleagues with the query, "So, what are your plans for the summer? Anything special? Going somewhere?"

These are natural and even polite questions. But this inquiry contains an implicit and material assumption: that the person has the financial and professional wherewithal to take a vacation.

We all need to get away. We all need to turn our eyes from work, distraction and bills. We all need to stop, rest and recuperate. As did God on the seventh day, we all need to cease creating and look upon what we, and He, have done -- and call it good.

Most of us manage to do that. As Christians, we should all do that once a week on Sunday. As sensible human beings of any stripe, we should do it regardless of religion for our health, sanity and future.

We should also take time off as a reminder that we are not beasts of burden and that God endowed us with a dignity and freedom that frees us from excessive material concern. The world will spin on without our help for a few days or a week or two.

Yet many among us do not have the money or time for a vacation. We may be unemployed, or paid little, or need to work that second or third job where there are no vacation days.

That should become our common problem, and those of us with clout or power should ensure that all workers have regular time off:

* Migrant farmworkers, for instance, still do not have the right to a weekly day of rest as stipulated by God at Mount Sinai , lo, these many millennia later.

* In our own offices or workplaces, we should find out if the cleaner or laborer has paid time off, and insist that they do. Encourage co-workers to use vacations.

* We should also set a good example. Endless work on the 24/7 carousel is increasingly the mark of a dedicated and important worker. But by working those hours, the higher-ups send a message to others that this is the route to success.

* More importantly, we can help friends who are broke with a donation toward a vacation; by lending them our car or vacation home; or by offering to watch their kids while the parents -- especially single parents -- get away.

Don't know anyone like that? Ask around. Try your pastor or friends or Catholic Charities. Many summer camps have scholarship funds that need donations, and families can always sponsor a Fresh Air Fund kid or a child who'd like to attend Camp Scully , the Albany Diocese's summer camp for disadvantaged children.

Do the same on an informal basis by inviting your child's friend or someone else along on your vacation. Remember that the Sabbath obligation to cease working once a week was laid upon all people -- even servants and "the alien in your midst." Let's make sure all of us can actually take that rest in a big way this summer.

(07/10/08) [[In-content Ad]]