I'm not a Christian, but I follow a focus on energies and expectations which centres a world beyond the one I walk through and work in. I do not believe I will have an eternal life elsewhere as the form of "myself" people who knew me in life would immediately recognise, but I do believe some aspect of me - what people mean when they talk about a 'soul' - will endure, in some altered form. I believe everyone's essence and energy endures, as part of the collective unconscious, the source of those moments of inspiration, those sudden thoughts, those flashes of insight, that the living feel "come out of nowhere."
Good Friday, for me, isn't about commemorating the Christian God. But it is a position in liminal time - a period where the energies of the physical world shift, sometimes imperceptibly, sometimes more noticably. And, for me, whose focus includes a Dedication to a Goddess of Death, it is a day to centre and honour death. To become comfortable with discomfort. To allow things - ambitions, identities - to die, so that the life I am intended to live can fully take over my experience in the world.
For many people though, Good Friday is "just another Bank Holiday" - another day in which the glaring classism and attitudes that some working people are less deserving than others becomes very, very visible. A stark criticism of a society that pretends everything is lovely and equitable for everyone.
Bank Holidays were originally instituted in 1871, to ensure that working people were guaranteed a minimal amount of time off - time intended to be spent in genuine rest, in the company of friends and family. Days which applied a natural brake to the forward motion of commerce.
We badly need that brake now, as we inhabit a world of hypercapitalism - which has as little in common with the capitalism many people still believe we're living under as snow has with sugar frosting. If people actually honoured Bank Holidays, many of the things that are loudly and frequently complained about - overconsumption, exploited labour, a lack of social cohesion, everything becoming more expensive whilst holding less intrinsic value, the pace of everything, burn out - would resolve themselves.
The members of the working class who are on the lowest wages, the most insecure contracts, the longest hours, who are at most risk of violence and abuse from other members of the working class, are retail, hospitality, and delivery workers.
You do not need to shop, go to a pub or restaurant, or order things for delivery on Bank Holidays.
Good Friday, for me, isn't about commemorating the Christian God. But it is a position in liminal time - a period where the energies of the physical world shift, sometimes imperceptibly, sometimes more noticably. And, for me, whose focus includes a Dedication to a Goddess of Death, it is a day to centre and honour death. To become comfortable with discomfort. To allow things - ambitions, identities - to die, so that the life I am intended to live can fully take over my experience in the world.
For many people though, Good Friday is "just another Bank Holiday" - another day in which the glaring classism and attitudes that some working people are less deserving than others becomes very, very visible. A stark criticism of a society that pretends everything is lovely and equitable for everyone.
Bank Holidays were originally instituted in 1871, to ensure that working people were guaranteed a minimal amount of time off - time intended to be spent in genuine rest, in the company of friends and family. Days which applied a natural brake to the forward motion of commerce.
We badly need that brake now, as we inhabit a world of hypercapitalism - which has as little in common with the capitalism many people still believe we're living under as snow has with sugar frosting. If people actually honoured Bank Holidays, many of the things that are loudly and frequently complained about - overconsumption, exploited labour, a lack of social cohesion, everything becoming more expensive whilst holding less intrinsic value, the pace of everything, burn out - would resolve themselves.
The members of the working class who are on the lowest wages, the most insecure contracts, the longest hours, who are at most risk of violence and abuse from other members of the working class, are retail, hospitality, and delivery workers.
You do not need to shop, go to a pub or restaurant, or order things for delivery on Bank Holidays.
Twenty years ago, when I worked in retail, both Sundays and Bank Holidays were declared "just normal working days" - no, we didn't "get extra pay", and we only got time off in lieu if the Bank Holiday day fell on a day that wasn't normally part of our individual shift pattern - but we had to be in on Bank Holidays and Sundays. Which meant I had to give up what was my first "proper" (ie, the tax office knew about it) job - because, in my area, buses did not run on Sundays or Bank Holidays, meaning I wasn't able to get to work. That was a full-staff meeting which management thought was a good idea to hold at the start of a Saturday shift...I was one of five people who walked out. At the start of our busiest day of trading. That was my earliest lesson in the importance of timing, of the need, sometimes, to take responsibility, as a leader, for sitting with the discomfort of something you need to say until saying it will land in a place where the processing of it doesn't disrupt "business as usual."
Many people still believe that "they get time and a half for Bank Holidays". Time off in lieu is cited.
"Time and a half" hasn't existed for retail and hospitality for at least two decades; these are two very low-margin sectors, even though they seem as though they'd be making decent profits, because their operating costs are both exceptionally high, and unpredictable in many cases.
"Time off in lieu" sounds like a fair exchange - until you realise that working parents, particularly working mothers, make up the largest percentage of retail and hospitality's workforces, and "time off in lieu of Bank Holidays" ends up being taken on a day when children still have to be got ready for school, and taken to and from school. On a day when male partners are unlikely to have the day off, as they might do on a Bank Holiday.
People like to justify delivery drivers, hospitality, and retail workers giving up their Bank Holidays "because nurses and that are still working!" - which misses the point completely.
People in hospitals and care homes need to be tended to.
Essential infrastructure - air traffic control, emergency and armed services, energy supply - needs to be maintained.
Animals kept in captivity, whether on farms or in zoos, need to be cared for.
These things are essential, and the appreciation of the necessity of sacrificing Bank Holidays and Sundays for.
It is not necessary to shop.
It is not necessary to go out for meals.
It is not necessary to order takeaways, or other things for delivery.
"But where would people go to spend a Bank Holiday with friends or family if everything was closed?!"
Many people still believe that "they get time and a half for Bank Holidays". Time off in lieu is cited.
"Time and a half" hasn't existed for retail and hospitality for at least two decades; these are two very low-margin sectors, even though they seem as though they'd be making decent profits, because their operating costs are both exceptionally high, and unpredictable in many cases.
"Time off in lieu" sounds like a fair exchange - until you realise that working parents, particularly working mothers, make up the largest percentage of retail and hospitality's workforces, and "time off in lieu of Bank Holidays" ends up being taken on a day when children still have to be got ready for school, and taken to and from school. On a day when male partners are unlikely to have the day off, as they might do on a Bank Holiday.
People like to justify delivery drivers, hospitality, and retail workers giving up their Bank Holidays "because nurses and that are still working!" - which misses the point completely.
People in hospitals and care homes need to be tended to.
Essential infrastructure - air traffic control, emergency and armed services, energy supply - needs to be maintained.
Animals kept in captivity, whether on farms or in zoos, need to be cared for.
These things are essential, and the appreciation of the necessity of sacrificing Bank Holidays and Sundays for.
It is not necessary to shop.
It is not necessary to go out for meals.
It is not necessary to order takeaways, or other things for delivery.
"But where would people go to spend a Bank Holiday with friends or family if everything was closed?!"
Parks wouldn't be closed. Beaches wouldn't be closed. Woodland wouldn't be closed. Your living room wouldn't be closed.
People bemoan the fact that "everyone just relies on ultra-processed junk - no one makes real food any more!" - but no one will put together a salad, some cheeses, olives, fresh fruit, and quality bread, for friends and family they've invited over to their home, or with whom they've gone out to a park or beach for a picnic. You don't need special skills to make a salad. You can buy the ingredients ahead of the Bank Holiday - almost all of the UK is now able to receive grocery deliveries, until late into the evening, so "I don't have time to go shopping when I'm at work!" doesn't work as an excuse.
People resent the fact that "making friends as an adult is so hard" - but how are you nourishing friendships when you're trawling round the shops? How are you extending friendship by expecting anyone who may benefit from it to afford to buy rounds in a pub, or "chip in" for a meal out, or a takeaway?
People feel disheartened that "we're losing all the countryside - everything just gets built on!" - of course it will if you're not using it. Why would a local authority go to the expense of maintaining publicly accessible spaces if no one uses them? Why wouldn't they approve the building of more and more shops and restaurants and takeaways, when these are the things people will immediately, and without any need of prompting, spend money on?
People complain about "overconsumption", and how "burnt out" they are - but the minute they have any time away from their employment, they immediately run out and spend money on something - drinks in a pub, a restaurant meal, a takeaway, clothes bought on a "preloved" site, something ordered from Amazon, the constant money drain that is "snacks."
We have to extend the rights of workers to all workers - especially those routinely treated most poorly, whose exploitation and labour is not necessary for anyone's survival.
Shopping is not rest.
Spending time in loud, crowded bars and restuarants isn't rest.
We don't need people to spend more money.
People need to genuinely rest, so that they can adequately identify the most effective ways they can employ their time - in supporting individuals and groups, in improving their communities, in artistic and creative endeavours.
If we can't extend Bank Holidays to all workers who are not maintaining life or necessary infrastructure - no one should have them.
Why should those who are comfortably salaried, who have a minimum of five weeks' annual leave they can take whenever they like, who rarely have to work weekends, early mornings, or late evenings, be the ones who benefit from a system established for all workers?
People bemoan the fact that "everyone just relies on ultra-processed junk - no one makes real food any more!" - but no one will put together a salad, some cheeses, olives, fresh fruit, and quality bread, for friends and family they've invited over to their home, or with whom they've gone out to a park or beach for a picnic. You don't need special skills to make a salad. You can buy the ingredients ahead of the Bank Holiday - almost all of the UK is now able to receive grocery deliveries, until late into the evening, so "I don't have time to go shopping when I'm at work!" doesn't work as an excuse.
People resent the fact that "making friends as an adult is so hard" - but how are you nourishing friendships when you're trawling round the shops? How are you extending friendship by expecting anyone who may benefit from it to afford to buy rounds in a pub, or "chip in" for a meal out, or a takeaway?
People feel disheartened that "we're losing all the countryside - everything just gets built on!" - of course it will if you're not using it. Why would a local authority go to the expense of maintaining publicly accessible spaces if no one uses them? Why wouldn't they approve the building of more and more shops and restaurants and takeaways, when these are the things people will immediately, and without any need of prompting, spend money on?
People complain about "overconsumption", and how "burnt out" they are - but the minute they have any time away from their employment, they immediately run out and spend money on something - drinks in a pub, a restaurant meal, a takeaway, clothes bought on a "preloved" site, something ordered from Amazon, the constant money drain that is "snacks."
We have to extend the rights of workers to all workers - especially those routinely treated most poorly, whose exploitation and labour is not necessary for anyone's survival.
Shopping is not rest.
Spending time in loud, crowded bars and restuarants isn't rest.
We don't need people to spend more money.
People need to genuinely rest, so that they can adequately identify the most effective ways they can employ their time - in supporting individuals and groups, in improving their communities, in artistic and creative endeavours.
If we can't extend Bank Holidays to all workers who are not maintaining life or necessary infrastructure - no one should have them.
Why should those who are comfortably salaried, who have a minimum of five weeks' annual leave they can take whenever they like, who rarely have to work weekends, early mornings, or late evenings, be the ones who benefit from a system established for all workers?
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