From the desk of our spiritual director, Lenza Smith
Labor Day is held the first Monday every September. For most people it simply marks the last weekend of the summer and the start of the school year. The holiday’s founders envisioned something very different from what this day has become. They were looking for a way to unify workers, shorten the work day and work week. People in the 1830s were working 70 hours per week. That’s a lot! Unions proposed a shorter work week and an eight hour work day. They also proposed getting workers more days off such as the Labor Day holiday. Here’s some interesting thoughts about work and labor.
If we love the labor of our trade apart from any question of success or fame, then the gods have called us.
Every day, I remind myself that my life depends on the laborers of other people, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received.
Following is some Labor Day humor. The seven best things to say if you get caught sleeping at your desk:
- 7. They told me at the blood bank this might happen.
- 6. This is just a 15 minute power nap like they raved about in that time management course you sent me to.
- 5. Whew! I guess I left the top off the white-out. You probably got here just in time.
- 4. I wasn’t sleeping. I was meditating on the mission statement and envisioning a new paradigm.
- 3. I was testing my keyboard for drool resistance.
- 2. I was doing a highly specific yoga exercise to relieve work related stress.
- 1. And so it is. Amen.
