MLK Who?

Pardon me if I am wrong, but isn't Martin Luther King Jr. day a holiday? I don't have to work today, but apparently most everyone else does, including students. Many schools in Minnesota are not closed today, and I really don't understand it. What has happened to holidays in this country? People back to work the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years, they don't celebrate Veteran's, Memorial, or Labor Day, and most people won't take a yearly vacation even if they have the time. What the hell are we working so hard for? Why can't we take a little time to reflect on our lives and the lives of our heroes, to appreciate their sacrifices and what they stood for? Is it that if we did take the time to think, really think about our lives we would be appalled and disgusted? We would be left examining lives bereft of meaning and consumed with consuming? Is it any wonder that we are all so fat and unhappy and stressed out, while the Europeans and their 5 weeks of paid leave a year are happy, slender and glamorous? I am getting so done with our constant rat race and our universal quest to keep up with the Jones' at the expense of our health and sanity, to say nothing to the health of our personal relationships. So, I encourage to you take stock this holiday, even if it is in your cubicle.