Labor Day

Ah, Labor Day. A day set aside to honor mothers everywhere.

According to the United States Department of Labor, Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

I thought it was just a day to barbecue with family. I seriously never knew why or when it came about. Memorial Day, Veterans Day and Presidents Day are easy to easy to figure out but Labor Day, not so much.

If we're honoring the history and achievements of our country's work force, only skeleton crews should be manning our stores, restaurants, really all businesses. Perhaps that's why I was confused. Labor Day is a huge money maker for nearly all retailers and movie theaters, causing much of the workforce to work harder than normal. This would appear to me to be an oxymoron, a contradiction of terms.

Don't get me wrong, this is a great holiday for a good portion of workers here, the government included. Banks and credit unions, schools; even liquor stores are closed in states that have government controlled liquor purchases. So why then, do retailers make it such a huge day for business? Obviously, to make as much money as possible.

What would happen if they were all closed on Labor Day? Would our economy collapse? Of course not. What it would do is give most of the employees the day off in honor of their contribution to our nation, in terms of the work they do. The retail purchases could wait until tomorrow. Its easy to watch movies today without going to a movie theater.

My point is this; the holiday we call Labor Day has lost it's meaning and, due to the greed of our retail establishments, we're not honoring our workforce, we're making a mockery of the reason the holiday was established. I get that we must have public services available today, but it should be scheduled with as few workers as possible.

See you tomorrow.

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