In lieu of attending the May Day March I had signed up for and in apology to SURYJ for likely not showing up, I'm sharing a couple May Day memories with you.

Given how easily I can cause my surgical knee to throb, I have decided to stay away from the crowds. I cannot march, don't know when I will be able to. It seems I have spent years of my life marching in many parts of the world so this is quite a concession, a concession to my mortality, I think.

But anyway, tossing out my first memory for your enjoyment.

You may or may not have heard of or seen pictures of a Maypole. I doubt whether eithrr of my grown children have. It comes from a pagan tradition, in other words, an ancient tradition honoring the earth rather than a masculine deity.

It celebrates spring and the return of fertility. Children gather flowers and decorate and dance around a maypole.

I don't remember ever seeing a maypole but I do actually remember gathering flowers in the gardens of my neighborhood and putting them in little baskets which I don't quite recall constructing of colored paper. We then dropped them at my neighbors’ back doors. Yes, I do have a memory of this from over 70 years ago.

Then years 60 or more years later, I found myself in Prague with some American friends. We were living and attending school in Munich and took a weekend jaunt across the ‘iron curtain” to see that ancient city. We knew little about the politics of May Day— International Labor Day, a holiday founded in Chicago but no longer celebrated in the US.

What we saw when we got to Czechoslovakia were little Czech flags, on one side of every 1st floor window with the hammer and sickle of the Soviet Union on the other and full size flags outside of every doorway. It was amazing, overwhelming.

I only learned of the Haymarket riot and martyrs later at San Francisco State. At that time I also learned that the Soviet union had adopted it as its own workers holiday. But because of that, the US abandoned it for another Labor Day, now celebrated in September. Ironies abound in both instances. But many countries continue to embrace the day's meaning, recognizing workers’ importance.

“Over time, May Day transformed into a public holiday in more than 60 nations, serving as a tribute to the invaluable contributions and accomplishments of workers.” From Philadelphia, channel 10.

On that Saturday night of our visit, with little to do in the deadly quiet, Soviet controlled city, we took a walk into the former Jewish ghetto. I remember we saw an ancient synagogue, fenced in and blocked.

I understand this synagogue has since welcomed many wotshippers back since that time a couple of years before the Prague Spring and many before the Soviets finally left.

The neighborhood was also covered with these two types of flags. We succumbed to mindless temptation and determined that each of us should retrieve our own hammer and sickle as souvenirs. We managed to climb up and pull down 3, rolled them up and stashed them in a paper bag under the back seat of our VW bug.

And right here I wanna state my philosophy of the essential American character. It's obvious that 1) many Americans in the category of young white college students are naive to the ways of the world beyond their privileged experiences. But also that 2) more Americans than folks from more ancient parts of the world also see the world with a little more hopefulness than others, those who laugh at us, might see.

When I was traveling in Europe back in the day, this is how I experienced it and no matter how cynical I get; I remember this visual of the quintessential American personality.

An American is the guy who asks a question in English because he only speaks that language but when he receives an answer he doesn't understand, just responds with a good natured laugh that says, “I don't know what you're saying but I trust you.”

I have always hesitated to use that example because it's overly broad and doesn't pertain quite the same way to Americans who did not get the full benefit of the doubt that others received.

In this case, it clearly pertains. We were stopped at a border crossing going back into Germany [near Pilzen and yes the beer was memorable.] The border guard checked our vehicle and got as far as the bag under the seat before stopping-us stupid young American students almost got caught stealing and disrespecting the symbols of the mighty Soviet Union while under their power. I kept that flag for many years and even used it as a Christmas tree skirt til someone, fittingly, stole it from me -while I was backpacking in Europe.

But watching Americans recoil from the grotesque ugly and mindlessly stupid doings of this current government, I can glimpse that that spirit, that naivete AND optimism is still lurking in our new world psyches.

While Trump, ICE, Bondi and Miller parade a medieval-kind of ugliness in front of the world, not our leaders but our folk go out and denounce, discuss and reclaim our birthright, that these doings will not be done in our name.

There is real destrictiveness going on around the edges and maybe some in the core of our rights and our basic organized society, but it has not yet caused the average American to give up in fear but instead to double down in disgust. The last time I saw this was the day everyone, regular middle class families, traipsed to the airports to protect returning immigrants from trump's abuse. It was a beautiful, heartening thing to see.

It's important to note, this is a grassroots movement. And just because it is relatively leaderless and spontaneous, it will not be easy to defeat and any good leader will quickly learn how to follow it.

Okay, one more little May Day memory for fun.

A number of years ago my friend Susan and I were perusing the old Budget Travel magazine which I miss. We decided to pick the best package deal advertised that month and take it, wherever it went.

It was a week or so in Brazil, mostly Rio. One of the perks was an airport pick up to the hotel.

We landed in the late afternoon, I believe, and looked for our ride. We waited (no cell phones those days). Finally, already a little annoyed, we took a cab.

When we arrived at the hotel we noticed we were surrounded by a party atmosphere and asked what was going on.

Well it turns out we hadn't thought about the date, being silly Americans. It was May Day and our driver was no doubt already at the festivities which we latered joined ourselves-dancing in the street. So have another Caipirinha on us and enjoy your May Day. We will prevail…