Hi-ho! Hi-ho!

^” In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground;” Genesis 3:19

In the Beginning, God gave work a bad rep…

According to Genesis, the Good Lord’s original intention for us was lounge around in our birthday suits, being fruitful and multiplying until the next free lunch fell into our fig-leafless laps. Then Adam and Eve screwed it all up, got booted out of Eden and sent off to find jobs.

So much for Paradise.

And, oh, by the way, happy Labor Day.

Yeah, I know, as a holiday this one is pretty weak – as a reason to celebrate, Labor Day probably ranks just above President’s Day, but quite a way down from Arbor Day and maybe even Groundhog Day. Mostly Labor Day just serves as the off-button for summer and the day after which fashionable ladies no longer wore white shoes, back when such things as wearing white shoes really mattered.

Besides, what sense does it make to celebrate work by taking a day off?

Well, maybe Labor Day isn’t about work. There’s a big difference between work and labor, after all.

Growing up in a farm community in the ‘50s and ‘60s we all learned about work right along with learning to walk and to feed ourselves. As soon as we were able we were made useful – picking rock, weeding beans, feeding the chickens and picking eggs. No sooner than our legs were long enough to work the tractor clutch, we were out raking hay; as soon as we could heft a bale, stacking it in the barn. Early on we learned the satisfaction of doing something of value to family and community, the good feeling that comes with making your contribution, from earning your keep. We learned that work had value beyond our own pleasure and well-being. That it was worth doing for its own sake.

Then we got jobs and learned about labor. Learned about getting paid to do stuff to make money for somebody else. And it didn’t take long to realize that those who did the least work made the most money … the boss sat while we sweat.

And it didn’t take long to realize that if you and your buddies quit doing what you were doing, you might not get paid, but the boss sure as heck was gonna go broke right along with you. That the higher up the job was on the organization chart, the less vital it was to the reality of the day-to-day.

And if nothing else, COVID has driven this reality home. When the pandemic struck it was the grocery stockers, truck drivers, nursing assistants, checkout clerks and warehouse workers who kept the country going. It was the hands-on, front line working folks who were essential, while the high-paid suits sat at home in their BVDs and worried about toilet paper and fretting that sending $600 a week to the erstwhile overworked and underpaid, but now unemployed, would somehow send them jetting off to the Bahamas to share in the routine indolence of the securely affluent.

Meanwhile, 30 million are out of work and the stock market is hitting new highs. What could more vividly illuminate the total disconnect between this country’s essential workers and the self-enriching parasites who live off the fruits of under-paid, under-valued labor.

It’s well past time for all working people to get what’s owed them – a living wage, adequate for a life secure and with dignity. Well past time.

That is the real message of Labor Day, and when that happens, we’ll finally have a real reason to celebrate.