As I write this post, it is Labor Day.  For many, today has little meaning beyond signifying the end of summer.  However, this holiday has great historical importance, and deserves to be appreciated for all it actually represents.  According to the official United States Department of Labor web page:  

“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.”

George Meany perhaps summed up the significance of Labor Day as well as anyone.  In Vital Speeches, he made the following observation.

“Labor Day is the only national holiday dedicated to the plain people, rather than heroes and historic events.  It provides an opportunity for all of us to recognize and honor the working men and women who have built America to its present stature and keep it going with such steady efficiency.  We need this annual reminder because during the rest of the year the contributions made to our well-being by the unsung workers of our country are taken for granted.  Only when some dramatic interruption takes place de we begin to realize how dependent we are in our daily lives upon the continuous miracle of production and service rendered by the great army of free American workers.”

I hope you will join me in taking a little time this Labor Day weekend to observe and appreciate the productivity of our American workforce.  I am greatly indebted in such regard. 
My father farmed and I have plenty to eat.  My father-in-law assembled automobiles and I drive a dependable vehicle.  My mother worked in insurance and I have security for my family and my possessions.  My mother-in-law taught school and I can write these words.  Truly, I have much to be thankful for as a result of my forebears, who simply got up each and every day and went to work and did their respective jobs.

I also hope you will join me this Labor Day in thanking God for the wonderful privilege of living in this great country, and of enjoying all the blessings pertaining therein.  I am reminded that I could have been born in any of scores of other countries who do not have the resources, the freedoms, and the heritage that America has.  As a result, I would never have known the great blessings associated with being an American citizen.  For that matter, I could easily have been born at some other time in the history of this great nation, and would still have never known the great blessings which I enjoy as a result of living in this particular day and age.  I have much to be thankful for.  Perhaps you do as well.
 


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