Opus 2023-088: Mom’s Fault

It is the fault of the mothers.

My thinking was stimulated this week as, on my way to church, I noticed a crew of men setting up to do some work with concrete blocks, forms and a wheelbarrow.  I remembered that when I was a kid working construction it would never have occurred to us to work on Sunday.  It just wasn’t done.

That made me think of a recent comment by our pastor about how the soccer fields were full of families involved in Youth Soccer and the Sunday School classes were empty.  He was lamenting the trend.

It is our own fault and it started with the mothers.

I don’t think I can ever think of a time when my family went out to dinner on Sunday.  It may have been because we were too poor but I think it was more just a standard.  My father would not even let us look at the Sunday comics in the newspaper until after church.  What a legalist.

Then moms didn’t want to cook on Sunday.  The solution?  Go out to eat.  Restaurants started staying open.  Eventually brunch became a thing and guess what the prime hours for brunch were?  Since people were out anyway they started looking for other things to do.  

I remember very clearly when the Sears in our town started opening on Sunday.  At first it was just in the afternoon.  They didn’t want to violate the taboo and keep people from church.  When they found out how popular that was they started opening all day.  Blame it on mom.  I don’t think dad was wanting to shop at Sears on Sunday.  It would interfere with his nap.

So now everything is open on Sunday.  It is getting harder all the time to find a job that does not require you to work on the weekend.  And of course, what do we do on Sunday after church?  We go out to eat, and maybe stop at the mall on the way home.

Blame it on mom.

homo unius libri