We celebrated Labor Day by laboring. I did my best to ignore the phone and the doorbell and plowed through our usual Monday curriculum. Bill became the de facto doorman chasing away the neighborhood children who wanted to play. I am quite certain that my children, the neighborhood children, and all the adults in the area are convinced that either 1) homeschooling is an oppressive burden or 2) Fritz and Billy’s mom is the meanest person on earth. We were done by 1130 am; it wasn’t that bad.
I like a day off as much if not more than any school kid. Believe me. And since I’m not used to starting school in August, I would gladly have taken a four-day weekend like the kids here. But I’m banking my vacation days for October when I’ll really need them. My kids will love me then.
And besides, it was Labor Day, a day to honor America’s workers. I suppose, being the descendant of factory workers, that I should swell with pride at what blue collar workers have done for my country. I don’t know. I have a feeling that most laborers are just trying to put food on the table and a roof over their heads and aren’t particularly concerned about the “big picture” and how their little cog moves the great wheel of the US economy. Yes, they worked hard and deserve a pat on the back. But Labor Day isn’t like Memorial Day where we honor soldiers who died doing their jobs.
Timed nicely for the “holiday” was this report from the UN about American workers being the most productive in the world. It was a pretty interesting article, not so much for the statistics about industrialized nations but for the comparison to people from other countries. The next time someone talks about “poor people” in America, it might be worth a second of thought to think about what poor really means, on a global scale. An industrial worker in China produces, on average, over $12k worth of output compared to an industrial worker in the US who produces over $104k worth of output. A farmer in China produces $910 (that is nine hundred and ten dollars) worth of output compared to an American farmer who produces over 52 thousand dollars worth of output.
Last year, I spent more on groceries than ten Chinese farmers produced. That’s a lot of rice. And I’ll bet there’s no holiday to recognize their labor either.
Reit This Way 
My husband is one of those cogs, and I think we do need Labor Day. He doesn’t get vacation or sick days or holiday pay. People have died or been crippled on his jobsite.If his boss decides that they need to work seven 12 hour days in a row, he does (gotta love the overtime!). If he lays out, he could be laid off.When times are busy, these holidays are a lifesaver for laborers.
If you get paid for a day off, that’s great. Lots of people don’t get a paid holiday, though. A neighbor (in my last civilian neighborhood) only got paid if he worked. A Monday off meant a smaller paycheck at the end of the week.I’m not saying that we shouldn’t have a holiday – I’m saying that I don’t really feel that I personally need to celebrate the Amercian worker in the same way that I honor someone who risked his life for the freedom of all Americans. There is a big difference between the tragedy of someone dying on a job site (or in a car on the way to work) and the heroicism of facing an enemy of your country and dying to protect it.My (extended) family is just as blue collar as any other American family. I attended my father’s GI Bill funded college graduation (which he left a lucrative career as a truck driver to pursue). I’m not at all down on American laborers or days off work. But I don’t know anyone who raises a beer glass and toasts them on Labor Day. For most people, it’s just a random day off for no apparent reason and the unofficial end of summer. Pretty meaningless if people don’t even know why the post office is closed.
Having grown up around the block from a museum dedicated to the early labor unions from the 1910’s, I had to explain to my kids why we had a holiday yesterday.We also celebrated by working. TheDad was going to replace some “toilet innards” but he and Big Brother wound up breaking the tank and installing a whole new toilet.
I hate to complain (and it might be just MY computer) but it seems the text is overlaying the pictures on the right sidebar (love the pictures, hate trying to read the post)?
Glad I wasn’t the only military home schooling mum schooling their kids (I have three: 4th, 6th, and 8th grades)on Labor Day. I just posted an obnoxious orange note on my door saying that if the knocker wasn’t an adult, they could kindly come back once the note wasn’t on the door any longer. My Post neighbor’s think I’m funny. I’d like to think I’m direct and I can’t stand answering the door and disappointing kids starting at 9am!! Sarah O. in MD