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Many people think Labor day is a holiday that gives kudos to the American worker by granting him or her a special Monday off from working. While this idealistic sentiment may reflect what the maker of the holiday originally had in mind, There will never be a way for every person who works a job in America to be honored by this holiday. There are people operating shops, restaurants, movie theaters, life guards working at pools and beaches, and police and fire fighters all laboring to serve the workers whom Labor day is supposedly honoring. Labor day is a holiday for those who work at the post office, bank, teach school, and basically the rest of corporate America. For millions, it is a Monday of business as usual. Do American workers, who earn more and work less than just about anyone else in the entire world, really need a day to honor themselves? It seems more like a retailers holiday, meant to release the consumers (IE workers) so that they may release their earnings a little more freely.

What Labor day is in actuality is the traditional end of the summer season. Schools used to begin the day after labor day, so labor day was a day marking the transition into another school year. Now many schools are year round or begin as early as the first week of August, so Labor day has lost some of its meaning as a last hurrah before school starts back. Most people think of bar b q's and pool parties, sales at Macy's and traveling when they think of labor day. What does this have to do with the American worker? When was the last time you thought about the American worker on Labor day? When was the last time you were thankful that you live in a land where jobs are plentiful to those who want to work, even so plentiful that there are people working still on national holidays that supposedly grant a reprieve from work?

The truth of the matter is that Labor day is really just a free Monday given to many white collar workers to kick back and enjoy the end of summer, while being served by the blue collar workers whose jobs are probably physically more difficult and who probably really need a break a lot more.
Maybe Labor day should be about the worker, but lets be honest, we usually aren't thinking of the American worker on Labor day, we're thinking, "yeah, I get to sleep in!" Perhaps this Labor day you could make it a tradition to thank in some small way those people who labor while you laze about. Giving your waitress an unusually generous tip is a great place to start. Take the idea and run with it, and that might make Labor day a day to honor laborers after all.

Learn more about this author, Tiffany Coley.
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