Labor Day 2

Posted on September 6, 2004 in Class Festivals

This year I did not observe my traditional practice of not buying anything on Labor Day. Instead I indulged in the Orange County avocation of strip mall shopping, going from pet store to Trader Joe’s for food. After I write this, we’re going to try a Hawaiian grill and go to a bookstore. Shame on me.

I’m doing my part, it seems, to forget what made America. My ancestors were railroad people and farmers, cooks and programmers. America did not coalesce like the earth out of chaos: it was made by people who cut stones, molded bricks, chopped wood, and heaved these into place. There is not as much building going on in these bad times, but the sons and daughters of the builders of this country — who are not the same as the capitalists — still lift boxes, stock store shelves, and stand there waiting for the commands of their fellow humans.

Sure, they get paid for it. Not much, but the money goes into their pocket along with the cash from the other two or three jobs that they work these days just to keep afloat. Because they are hourlies, they don’t get paid time off. Because they are part time, they often don’t get health insurance. We don’t honor Labor in this country as we should. We honor sheen and thin veneer, pomposity and soft hands.

Today, I dip my head in shame because I am part of this self-indulgent society squatting on the shoulders of the working class, the class of my origins. But I shall do what I can to make things better for those who must work today by treating them with respect and remembering that they, too, are America.