A Brand New Day, Part 4:

                Yorday – a new day to be placed between Saturday and Sunday. A true day of rest, recuperation, relaxation and reflection.

                The reasoning for creating our new day is sound – weekdays are for work. For some of us, weekends are for work too. Saturday is for catching up on the shopping, laundry and other work that we can’t do on weekdays. Most of the time this bleeds into Sunday too (throw in the church-going for the religious types and there goes Sunday). And somewhere along the way we need to make time for fun.

                So we have Yorday, named after you and Uranus, in which to relax and take easy.

                The rules are simple: do whatever you wish to do that day as long as it does not interfere with the rest, recuperation, relaxation and reflection of others. This means get your grill-out ready, fill your gas tank and/or get your supplies the day before. Don’t eat out on Yorday – a waitress and a chef will have to work. Don’t go to a movie – ticket operator and projectionist will have to work. Don’t go to a ball game – millionaires will have to entertain you while earning one-hundredth of what they make, not counting the concession workers who will have to do real work.

                Get a group of friends together to play games at a table or sports in your back yard. Get some fellow musicians together and play in a park. Sleep in. Vow not to shave or shower. Read a book. Write a book.  Rest.

                Fundamentalists (who are usually anything but fun), be at ease. “You can’t take away Sunday!” It is THE day of rest! The day we dedicate to the Lord!”  No one is saying you can’t dedicate Sunday to the Lord. No one is saying you can’t dedicate Yorday to the Lord. What I am saying is that Sunday is not really the day of rest. Not anymore, that is. Even as (not-very-much-fun) fundamentalist, your Sunday can hardly be restful. Up at dawn, to church early, stay until well past noon, prayer lunch, group meetings, evening services, more prayer.  You are probably more in need of a true day of rest than most of us.

                Yorday will have its problems that will need to be ironed out. What if I have a heart attack while playing catch football? What if I break my leg? Or someone else’s leg?  “Thank you for calling 9-1-1. It’s Yorday, so no one is available to take your call. Please leave a message.”

                With no one working, the Emergency Room will be closed. The radio station will be silent, as there will be no one there to mind the satellite feed (hmm, come to think of it, that one’s not such a bad thing…), there will be no television programming for similar reasons (and that’s not such a bad thing either …).

                Some services will HAVE to be active on Yorday. Police, infrastructure, medical.

                Perhaps those jobs can be worked volunteer only. Whosoever worketh on Yorday will get a special day off later in the week and/or get extra pay. Perhaps the pay received will not be considered as taxable income (there’s an incentive to volunteer)…

                So there we have it. Yorday.

                How do we begin? Small and slow – otherwise it will be chaos and that would be anathema to Yorday. Start with yourself. Declare one day next month as your Yorday. Then get your family to join in another Yorday later in the year. Then some friends.

                Can you see it happening? Some town will declare Yorday. Then the next year the neighboring towns, then a city. Then a state. After a decade or so, the nation. Then the world.

                The people of earth dedicating one day to rest, recuperation, relaxation and reflection.  This is Yorday. Enjoy it.