Labor Day

Hurray for Labor Day, I guess.

Of all the holidays, Labor Day is the one which gives me the most mixed emotions.

Summer is winding down, fall is about to start and there are just too many things going on, too much coming and too much going. Transition time and confusion, all wrapped up around Labor Day.

The one sure thing is that Labor Day is not one of those holidays you have to buy presents for or hunt for a greeting card for family, friends or anyone else. Nobody has time to buy cards anyway.

Labor Day is a start and finish marker, as far as I see it. It's a reason for having a last big fling of the summer months. Of course, the traditional reason for Labor Day is to honor those who work hard to support themselves and their families. It's supposed to be a celebration of toil and sweat, hard work, sacrifice and upward movement to make this great county even greater. Today, it is more about survival with not enough jobs for all those wanting to labor and earn their way. But let's not get off on a tangent pholks, we all know about that. Let's just agree that Labor Day continues to change and I don't think it will get back to the way it is supposed to fit into our social scheme of things.

Granted, a lot has to be with one's point of view.

As a youngster, Labor Day signaled back to school time. No more lazy summer days in the river, the lake, cruisin' the back roads on warm evenings, playing the radio or eight-track loud in the wide open spaces and often looking for real “summer love.” It also signaled the end of those summer jobs which paid most of the college fees after the expenses of summer. Shopping for long pants, maybe a coat and textbooks, hunting for an apartment, roommates and all the other necessities were all part of the game. Now Labor Day has nothing to do with that.

Now school starts in early or mid-August when it's still hot for at least a month and it's almost impossible to think about buying a coat. Labor Day has nothing to do with that anymore.

Labor Day still means Major League Baseball is in the home stretch with pennant chases and wild card races keeping fans glued to the sport. Football on all levels continues to charge into the sports spotlight but now Labor Day brings playoffs for golf, auto racing, tennis, women's pro basketball and others in the mix. So much for that tradition, pholks.
Labor Day used to remind me of the nearing of the season when raking of leaves meant the smell of burning the piles in the yard would arrive. That is gone. I would trade a few hours of leaf burning for a half day or supposedly “clean” air anytime. Too bad that might send me to jail or at least a pricey citation. Another Labor Day tradition went down the tubes.

There is some good news: longer Daylight Savings Time. Labor Day used to signal the approach of the time change. Now it is extended for a few more weeks and for that I'm thankful. But again, it is a change of tradition.

Another sign of the times, pholks, is the forced furlough times, so many workers are taking. Government, private enterprise and other assorted parts of the workforce are taking days off without pay to keep their jobs in this stinking economy. Hopefully that will pay off and we can all get back to work on a regular schedule. That would be a real Labor Day celebration. We could call it “Back to Laboring Day” or perhaps “We're All Working Day.”

No extra day off or anything. Maybe the management could spring for pizza, donuts, ice cream or root beer floats.
At least it is something to work for.

Miles can be reached at mshuper@valleyvoicenewspaper.com