Labor Day

Bismillah Arrahman Arraheem

Here in the U.S. we celebrate Labor Day and it is a holiday. Many people are off from on this day to celebrate the working man and woman and this is a day observed for all of us who work so hard to earn a living. For most countries around the world, Labor Day is on May 1. Here it is on the first Monday of September. This day was inaugurated by the Knights of Labor who in 1882 held a parade in New York, and again in 1884, when a resolution by George R. Lloyd, one of the Knights of Labor, was passed , recommending that parades be held on Labor Day. According to an article entitled "Labor Day" in Bulletin No. 29 of the U.S. Dept. of Labor, published July 1900, Oregon was the first state to legislate for general observance of Labor Day as a legal holiday. This law, enacted, enacted Feb. 21, 1887, specified the first Saturday of June as Labor Day; but in 1893 the day of observance was changed to the first Monday of September. Other states which passed similar legislation in 1887 were: Colorado on March 15; New Jersey, April 18; New York, May 6; and Massachusetts, May 11. All these states set the first Monday in September as the holiday. In Eurpoe the celebration of the first day of May as Labor Day commenced in 1890.

Of course, here in the U.S., there are people who do work on Labor Day. You will notice that right away if you choose to eat out on this day. Employees work for employers who will them, "On Labor Day, You Labor." They don't get a day off. For those of us who do get a day off, we need to think of them and treat them with kindness.
Also, Labor Day has lost its meaning in America. For many, it means the last day of summer. And that's all it is to them. Just like Memorial Day signifies to them as the first day of summer, when it is a day to honor our war veterans who died in battle. That's how things have changed.

Anyway, I'd thought I should post this.