The first Monday in September. A creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the American workers across this land we know as the United States of America. It is a day set aside for all to take a rest from their labors and yet it seems we have forgotten what it is to put in an honest day of hard labor.
When I have used the words to labor in a speech the smiles turn upside down in the audience. It seems that the hard work, getting your hands dirty, sweating under the sun or in a factory is looked down on and despised as something that is beneath them.
When the fact is if the folks that work hard in the fields, the factories, the fire personnel, the police personnel, the people who pick up our trash, clean our offices and homes, cook our meals, and all the support people that go along with the list, they are the ones who will be working on Labor Day.
As a young person I remember the Labor Day parades in town. The tractors pulling the floats, the mayor operating the fryers at the fish fry, and the town people coming together to celebrate a job well done for another year. Knowing that the next day it would be back to the orange groves, the sugar cane fields, the tomato fields, and the cattle that would need tended.
I just heard a man say it was an easier time back then and did not understand the technology of today. My reply was, I do understand and find it fascinating and oh so helpful in my daily life. I just don’t want anyone, especially our children, to forget that those with sweat on their brows and the aching legs and back from hard work are to be looked down upon, but to be thankful for callused hands as well as utilized brains of everyone.
D.W.(Dick) Powell
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