SPRINGFIELD – A reporter once asked the 20th Century’s most influential labor leader, John L. Lewis, what does organized labor want?
His response: “More.”
It’s a great rejoinder, but it’s a lousy premise to go into all negotiations
Sometimes there isn’t “more” to give.
For example, Illinois is the fiscal basket case of the nation.
It’s $111 billion-plus in pension debt, is spending what it doesn’t have and cutting basic services and is 13 weeks without a budget.
Other than that, no problem.
Gerald Manley Hopkins deserves attention. So other Christian poets, in search for someone to counter the drugstore fustian that greets us regularly at our 21st-century mass.
First, do no harm, God told the worship clerks, who asked, “What on earth are you talking about?”
I do them injustice. It’s not easy to tell people how to pray. They mean well, as do many a mis-doer, from whose misdirected, ill-conceived and -executed efforts God save us and them.
Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Blithe Spirit 