Happy Labor Day!
Labor Day is the bookend on the opposite end of summer from its holiday beginning, Memorial Day.
July Fourth is summer’s early peak, with the promise of long light-filled days ahead. But Labor Day is summer’s last gasp, the moment I dreaded as a child because it marked the end of vacation and the start of the school year. Spiffy new clothes, a shiny bookbag, freshly sharpened pencils, and the promise of the beautiful autumn leaves’ arrival were nice. But they couldn’t make up for the fact that a new school year was beginning. Where oh where had the summer gone?
And it goes even more quickly these days. But let’s celebrate the fact that we don’t have to worry about the start of school anymore—except, perhaps, for the teachers among you.
Here’s wishing you all a Happy Labor Day! Barbecues, picnics, parades, beach, just hanging out in your yard, whatever you desire. And for the historically-minded among you, some information the origins of the holiday.
Labor Day was always the end of summer for us and we got ready to return to school. My grandkids have been back in school for a week or more. Why ?
I guess this is one reason for air conditioning.
Better that kids play outdoors. This may be a reason for the epidemic of myopia I see in military recruits. There is a study that suggests outdoor activity may reduce myopia in ethnic Chinese. In Singapore, 75% of 17 year olds have severe myopia. In Australia, ethnic Chinese 17 year olds have only 25% incidence of severe myopia. The difference seems to be outdoor activity and focusing on distant objects.
It’s hard to prove but there is some evidence.
I loved the start of school – the new sharpened pencils, a new pencil box, a new book bag (I didn’t care as much for the spiffy new clothes). Then in the afternoon (which always seemed to be bathed in warm light), after school, walking home and hearing the shoe shine man’s radio broadcasting the World Series which the Yankees always seemed to be in (sorry about that, Neo).
Yet here, school has been in session for three weeks, and our locals just saw their second HS football game of the season. It’s marching band season. Soon it will be autumn nights under the lights. Just get us through storm season.
Mike K,
I have been informed by reliable unnamed sources that here in the People’s Socialist Soviet democrat Republic of Madiganstan-Illinois state-wide student testing occurs in late April or early May. Depending on grade level. So “teaching to the test” rote memorization must begin as early as possible.
Today was a normal day here, but I hope you all had or are having a good holiday.
I have some grand nieces and nephews there in Rahmville and wish them well.
Thank you Neo, the same to you. It’s been a very long time since I’ve gone to school, and a somewhat shorter time since I’ve had to help prepare my kids to return to school. There was a time when I loved summer and dreaded Labor Day – but that is long past. The other three seasons are now my favorites, by far, and autumn tops the list.
Thanks for the Wiki link – I had always assumed Labor Day had socialist underpinnings, along with the more obvious Union beginnings, but it was interesting to learn this:
“The date of May 1 (an ancient European folk holiday known as May Day) emerged in 1886 as an alternative holiday for the celebration of labor, later becoming known as International Workers’ Day. The date had its origins at the 1885 convention of the American Federation of Labor, which passed a resolution calling for adoption of the eight-hour day effective May 1, 1886.[8] While negotiation was envisioned for achievement of the shortened work day, use of the strike to enforce this demand was recognized, with May 1 advocated as a date for coordinated strike action.[8] The proximity of the date to the bloody Haymarket affair of May 4, 1886, further accentuated May First’s radical reputation.
There was disagreement among labor unions at this time about when a holiday celebrating workers should be, with some advocating for continued emphasis of the September march-and-picnic date while others sought the designation of the more politically-charged date of May 1. Conservative Democratic President Grover Cleveland was one of those concerned that a labor holiday on May 1 would tend to become a commemoration of the Haymarket Affair and would strengthen socialist and anarchist movements that backed the May 1 commemoration around the globe.[9] In 1887, he publicly supported the September Labor Day holiday as a less inflammatory alternative.[10] </bThe date was formally adopted as a United States federal holiday in 1894."
Hooray for Cleveland.
Holiday wise, we drove some of the grandkids up to the (almost) top of Mt Evans in Colorado, 14000 feet. We didn’t walk up to the official summit as it was only 32 degrees and snowing lightly. However, we saw lots of mountain goats, some marmots, and late wildflowers. It really is a nice time of year to have a holiday, as they have already been in school for two weeks.
I was never enthused about returning to school. I don’t recall feeling dreadful about it, though I suspect I did. I do, however, remember standing on a woman’s porch of an evening, “collecting” for the paper I delivered. She remarked that I wouldn’t be in short sleeves much longer, and I remember wondering what on earth she was talking about. It was the last day of summer, and I remember it like it was yesterday.