Happy Labor Day!

 

Happy Labor Day!

 

So long summer of 2022.

 

You sizzled us, you soaked us, you satiated us. And like every other summer season, your sprint to Monday – Labor Day – seemed a blur.

 

For many, Labor Day is all about capturing that last blast at the beach, backyard barbecues, school retail bonanzas and the grudging realization that sun-soaked play days are no more.

 

But why is it called Labor Day? Labor Day is a day set aside to pay tribute to working men and women. It has been celebrated as a national holiday in the United States and Canada since 1894.

 

"Labor Day differs in every essential way from the other holidays of the year in any country," said Samuel Gompers, founder, and longtime president of the American Federation of Labor. "All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man's prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation over another. Labor Day...is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race, or nation."

 

But the day has a deeper meaning and marks a pivotal moment in U.S. labor history — and it had a pretty violent start.

 

In the late 1800s, the state of labor was grim as U.S. workers toiled under bleak conditions: 12 or more hour workdays; hazardous work environments; meager pay. Children, some as young as 5, were often fixtures at plants and factories.

 

The dismal livelihoods fueled the formation of the country’s first labor unions, which began to organize strikes and protests and pushed employers for better hours and pay. Many of the rallies turned violent.

 

Congress, at the urging of Cleveland in an overture to the labor movement, passed an act on June 28, 1894, making the first Monday in September “Labor Day.” It was now a legal holiday.

 

In the coming decades, the day took root in American culture as the "unofficial end of summer" and is marked by parades, picnics and family/friend time. Post offices, banks, courts, federal and state offices are shuttered. 

 

Some herald the new beginnings that dot the post-Labor Day months – the NFL in full swing, election season in high gear, the first frost, fall's colors.

 

Alone, we can do so little; together we can do so much – Helen Keller

 

Find you joy and go there!

Have a safe and enjoyable holiday!