THE FOLLOWING IS AN EDITORIAL.
Today is Labor Day here in the United States of America.
While the earliest celebrations of the work force date back to 1882, Congress did not make the first Monday of September an official national holiday until 1894.
Back then, employees of any company were expected to work at least a 12 hour day 7 days a week, with work on Sundays only delayed long enough to attend church. Christmas and Easter were the only true holidays, but even then it was a rare event to be paid for that day when you didn't work.
The 8 hour work day was legally established in 1916, but with many people having to hold down at least 2 jobs to make ends meet today and employers who expect job responsibilities to come first and foremost before anything else within a person's life, 8 hours a day seems like a minimum commitment now.
Once upon a time, the only businesses that were open Labor Day were emergency services: police, fire fighters, and medical personnel.
Today, it's a rare event to find a business closed on this holiday, although the presence of senior management on duty at any job seems scarce on Labor Day.
I could go on, but I think everyone gets the idea.
Even the annual Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy Telethon is gone.
Before his passing earlier this year, Jerry Lewis wasn't directly involved with the fund raiser he started since 2010, when it went from being a two day/multi-hour extravaganza to just a couple of hours only on Sunday night. Now even that reduced version seems to have completely disappeared from all but distant memory.
Is this progress? Personally, I don't think so, but your opinion may differ.
In any event, take care.
THE ABOVE WAS AN EDITORIAL.
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