You know how you just accept something without really thinking? You just say it or think it without paying any attention to the meaning. Take Labor Day for instance. What’s it for and why, for God’s sake is the last holiday of summer named for work? If you are like me, you never think about it at all. You just enjoy your barbeque and the long weekend and go back to work. Well today for some reason I stopped to think about it. What does Labor Day celebrate anyway?
It never made much sense to me as a kid that Labor Day was a holiday. It was crazy but when you are a kid you spend most of your time incorporating all the crazy things that adults into your world view. We call that growing up. There is so much crazy making required in growing up that there isn’t any time to waste thinking about those things. Back then Labor Day seemed to have the purpose of marking the end of Summer Vacation and the beginning of the school year. Today even that meaning is gone now that school starts in August. diminishing Labor Day to merely another break in the endless tedium of school.
Let’s check with Wikipedia.
Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September, that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers. It was first nationally recognized in 1894 to placate unionists following the Pullman Strike. With the decline in union membership, the holiday is generally viewed as a time for barbeques and the end of summer vacations.[1]
Placating unionists and celebrating the economic and social contributions of workers, eh. I always thought it was for everyone. It sure seemed that way to me as a kid. Back then everyone I knew, at least the adult men had a job. These days even in the current Obama recovery its starting to seem like a full time job isn’t the American dream what with Obamacare punishing companies with outrageous healthcare costs for full time employees. Employers can’t afford full time employees in these progressive times. Jobs have disappeared. Food stamps are up. Workers, these days have become a distinct minority. Continue reading »