On this Labor Day I wonder how many of you are not "spending energy" in wasted labor. Labor day's origins came from where else? New York City. Don't tell Bloomberg he will get something done to retract or take credit for it. I can never tell with him and his interesting sense of Mayor-ship. But this is Labor Day's history as from - the 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.
Founder of Labor Day
More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.
Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."
But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.
The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.
The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.
The idea is to celebrate labor while also being free of it. Ironic in this time in history so few are in labor while others are maximized that even one day off from their work is akin to their lives. They tote their blackberry, endlessly text, email and work into wee hours for exactly what? The idea of the union was to end that type of exploitation and have a civil work day and hour, with respite breaks and time off. The United States has always been a country with the least vacation globally. And what has all that work provided? Well its provided some with a great deal of wealth and success. But look deeper at what cost to many? Their own families, their communities? To business and ultimately America overall? All this overwork is not working.
Much is made of the wealth of Mitt Romney and his "success" at Bain Capital. Upon deep examination (and not just of his tax returns) they have found Bain's "success" came at deep debt and sacrifice to the companies they bought, sold or simply put into bankruptcy. The article by Matt Taibbi in the Rolling Stone discusses at length the practices of Bain and their real success.
And this has nothing to do with wealth, political parties or any divisive issue. This is just a matter of economics at the hands of a system that is broken and needs to be RE-Built. The safety nets, the laws, the regulations and the system changed under the hand of all political parties. The truth is that money is the true party of law in America. Those with it and those without it.
But we like to have our white hats and our black hats. That is one of another many unicorn myths in this Country founded by moving westward. And few symbolize that then Marlboro Man - another mythical creature who existed solely to encourage smoking, that worked out well didn't it. Another was the silent cowboy equal man of the west - Clint Eastwood. Shame he didn't remain silent and let people hold onto that myth a little longer. I prefer when Pee Wee Herman talks to a chair.
When I see the endless silly ##,fights and feuds on Social Media I wonder what exactly is the point? I spend endlessly energy trying to understand what happened to me the night of Feb 8 and the ultimate failure of the medical and legal system to help me understand and yet I see hours and hours of Tweets, posts, blog entries picking fights and being "right" Exactly what is that energy spent providing? I have not yet received one apology, one admittance of wrong doing or one simply offer to buy me a cup of coffee and just listen and then take me out of it. At times you really need to wonder if that is all you have and if that doesn't fit the classic definition of insanity.
When you spend your energy its necessary to try to find balance. All energy is both negative and positive. There are many hours in the day so to carefully use and store and ultimately restore energy you need to find out what provides said balance. On this Labor Day ask yourself instead of spending energy wasted, find ways to spend energy pro-rated. Energy that will come back in a renewable fashion. What are those ways? And what can you do to RE-build America instead of tearing it down. Focus on the positive not the negative. Renewable energy is the future. Renew yourself.
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The real story is much more political. After the May 1 Haymarket Massacre, workers around the world were celebrating May 1 as labor day. From a slate article:
For a while, Labor Day had stiff competition from May 1. In 1884, the American Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions declared that, by May 1, 1886, the eight-hour workday should be in effect across the land. When legislators and employers failed to comply in time, the result was a general strike and the bloody Haymarket Riot in Chicago, which caused the deaths of eight police officers and led to the hangings of four labor activists.
Though May 1 became an important day for Socialists and Communists, state governments and less radical labor leaders feared that the date was too emotionally charged. In 1894, after President Grover Cleveland ordered the brutal suppression of the Pullman Strike, he realized that he had to do something to curry favor with the labor movement, which viewed him with contempt. Worried that a May 1 holiday would encourage rabble-rousing in commemoration of the Haymarket Riot, he followed the lead of several states and made the first Monday in September a federal holiday in honor of the workingman.
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