Happy Labor Day, I Guess

Why are the world's most productive workers not working today? Exactly what makes today special enough to become a national holiday? Nothing significant happened on the first Monday in September in American history...EVER. Nobody died. We didn't win a war. We don't get gifts. WTF makes today so special?

I had to get to the bottom of this.

I did some research and just as I suspected, Labor Day was basically created as an excuse to have the day off. How very American?

Back in 1882, the Central Labor Union (now AFL-CIO) began its quest to create a day off for blue collar, everyday people. In not-so-American fashion, Congress actually bent under the will of the people and offically made Labor Day a federal holiday in a 1894 Act of Congress.

So, bascially, people wanted some comp time and complained to their local labor union, which in turn complained to the national labor union, which then bitched to Congress.

Intially, there were parades and fesitvals and speeches by prominent people promoting economic development and civic duty. So, people actually did something on Labor Day.

Now, we don't do anything. We sleep in late and do very little all day. We check our check email only once or twice a day (in the afternoon) and dare our boss to send ANYTHING work related because, of course, we don't labor on Labor Day. We take the dog out for a (very short) walk because, September or not - it's hot. We get out of our beds only to watch a bit of CNN News Desk to get our news fix and ESPN News to get our sports updates and grab a bit to eat before heading back to bed to take a quick nap before 8pm so we can catch the Florida State-Clemson game on ESPN.

Well, that's what I do because I refuse to labor on Labor Day.