-^-for posterity-^-

today is international labor day. i don’t know how much it’s celebrated in america, if my memory holding up, i don’t think it is.

today no one works. well, no one works except for the skinny girls that serve coffee in small cafes and waitresses, cooks and taxis.

flags line all of the streets and they are relatively empty. it looks a bit like the tet holiday. people are spending their time with friends in bars, restaurants and at home. international labor day is one big party.

there is a large statue of uncle ton in the middle of long xuyen. he is bronze and tall and firmly built. his face is stoic and he looks quite impressive. he stands, immortalized, on a large, marble pedestal. he was the leader of vietnam after uncle ho chi minh. he was raised on a small island on the river. today there will be small marches and parades and banners and people milling about. everything is red and gold. signs proclaim the prowess and pride of workers.

i think international labor day is an important day to celebrate. i guess america doesn’t bother with it because it has its own labor day which i fondly remember as falling sometime before school starts. it was a dreaded omen when i was a child. i never understood its significance.

without labor we would have no shoes. without labor we would have no computers. without labor we would have no cars. without labor gates, buffet, walton, bush, cheney, lay and any other host of incredibly rich and powerful white men would not have their power or their wealth. if anyone should be celebrating international labor day, it should be america. take a moment out of your busy day to say, “thank you” to the hundreds of developing countries throughout the world for providing you with dirt-cheap wages and equally cheap natural resources. walk proudly in your soft, south-east-asian-made tennis shoes.