That Lousy Holiday: A Reflection on Labor Day

I remember one holiday weekend when I was about ten my dad giving my brothers and I a full slate of chores to do around the yard and house. It wasn't that we didn't normally have chores, we did, but this was an unusually high amount of work to do. Finally, I asked him why I couldn't go off and just ride my bike or throw the football around or something.

"It's Labor Day," he told me. "Labor means work. You're supposed to work hard on Labor Day."

"Well that's a lousy holiday," I told him, as I shuffled miserably back to my chores.

That story makes me laugh now as I think about it, but like many of you, I grew up not really understanding why Labor Day is recognized as a holiday in this country. But in the spirit of Labor Day I've been thinking about it, and have come to believe it's time we appreciate it for what it is.

Labor Day was established by the US government as a gesture towards American trade and labor organizations in 1894 after a crippling strike by Chicago railroad workers turned into a violent confrontation with the military. It was established in September to be set apart from May 1 labor demonstrations which are recognized all over the world, and often linked to the influence of Marxism on the world. I saw a May 1 labor demonstration in Paris in 1990, and couldn't believe the volume of men and women marching through a major world city holding placards and protest signs. There were speeches made all day, all over the city, about labor and benefits and quality of life, and despite the loud voices and cheering in the streets, it was a very peaceful day in Paris, and an eye-opener for me. It was much different than the American Labor Day tradition since 1909 which is politically low key, and typically a day of rest and festival for workers and their families.

Right now so many of us here locally, across Michigan, and in our country, are without work, or employed in jobs below the expertise they have as workers or below the pay grade that they need to live without stress, or face everyday uncertainty about how long the job they do have will be around before the small business closes or the factory ships the jobs elsewhere. It is a very stressful time in American labor. In fact, labor, employment, might be the most important need our country has right now.

So it might be time to revisit the spirit of Labor Day. Not in the "demonstrate" tradition of it, but in the "time to work hard" tradition my dad gave to me about thirty years ago. When I got my first job at fifteen slinging tacos at Taco John's in Niles, my grandpa pulled me aside for a serious talk. My grandpa owned his own plumbing business in Niles which he began after the Great Depression and had to build from the ground up from his own blood, sweat, and tears. He told me that the person who owned Taco John's was putting his life's work in my hands, and it was my responsibility to do my best, every day, to honor that person's sacrifices, and the trust he put in me. "Work hard for the owner", my grandpa told me. "It's your responsibility."

There are so many workers out there who need that lecture from my grandpa, especially young people. There are so many who don't put in an honest day's work, but expect to get paid for it. And there are so many who feel like the hard work is beneath them: they don't want to labor or clean or do the dirty work, so they leave it for somebody else to do. So many young people think they're going to graduate high school and live on their own, drive a new car, have all the toys, etc., but forget that kind of economic freedom comes at a price, and somebody has to pay it.

I believe our local area will turn around, that Michigan will turn around, and that our country will turn around, but I don't believe it won't come without hard work. I believe I will contribute to that turn around by doing my job as hard and well as I can to educate kids, and that you will contribute to it by doing your job as hard and as well as you can. If we can get everybody doing that, from the guy who digs the ditches, to the woman that designs the buildings, to the kid slinging tacos for minimum wage, we'll pull ourselves out of it. America has always been an ingenious country. We have to be a hard-working one, too. All of us.

Recently my father-in-law told my twelve-year old son a story about work ethic. He told my son that after work every day, when he looks in the mirror, he maybe could have fooled his co-workers about his effort that day, and maybe he could have fooled the boss, but when he looks in his own eyes he can't fool himself, and he never wants to look himself in the eye and know he didn't work hard that day. That's how he was raised. So now my son's grandpa, like my grandpa, passed on an important message which can become a great life lesson.

This Labor Day let's all reflect on what it means to work, and to work hard, and pass that message on. Labor Day isn't lousy, after all.

Note: This blog post is from a series originally published as personal essays written for the Van Buren County Advertiser from 2008-2014 by Corey Harbaugh under the title It's All Good. The It's All Good columns were written to feature and celebrate life in and around Gobles, Michigan.