To Labor or not to labor?

Hi neighbors. Happy Labor Day weekend! Summer is not officially over according to the seasons but according to most of us here in the United States, fun-in-the sun summer time is done.

Unless you have seasonal working hours you won’t tell much difference in going to work; it’s the time before and after work that changes with the seasons.

The first big door to walk through is Labor Day. Many offices and even stores will be closed Monday to acknowledge and celebrate the work force in America.

Each year America has more people moving into large cities; off the farms and out of small rural towns. While farmers and ranchers are the symbols of independence and self-sufficiency, workers within large cities symbolize dependence upon others within the city and out for their needs.

Everyone in any city is incorporated into the rhythm of city life. There are factories, schools, businesses, hospitals and professional offices of all types; all moving each day within a routine schedule that seldom changes. Individuals and families adjust their own life styles around their vocations and/or school schedules.

Even the flow of traffic within, entering and exiting any town or city, moves in rhythms as regular as a heartbeat.

Walk into any home within any city early in the day and you will find members of each household preparing to leave home for their daily routine. Many parents not only fix breakfast and even lunch for themselves and their children in the early morning; but may also leave home early to deliver their children to school and drop off their spouse at their job before driving to their own.

This is why so many families have at least two vehicles. That, of course, means twice the traffic on the already crowded streets and freeways across town. This sometimes causes the dreaded traffic jam that we hear so much about. I cannot imagine living in a large city and fighting up to six lanes of traffic for an hour each morning and evening to get to work or school. But millions of Americans do just that.

Mega-cities have tried to thin out traffic jams by offering mass transit to get around within the city. People in these metropolises can live a lifetime without having a vehicle of any type. They rely solely on buses, taxis, subways and elevated trains and even boats to get from point A to point B on any given day. Although public transit might be a necessity within a huge city, I don’t think I could figure out the train and bus schedules if there were any changes in their routes.

Many people prefer the best of both worlds, between rural and urban and live in the suburbs. This offers houses instead of apartments, actual yards for the children to play in and less congestion in all aspects of co-habitation with a few thousand other commuters.

Although some places (mostly in the East) do have public passenger trains from outer areas into the large cities, most are only on the other side of the Mississippi River. Even many of them involve driving a car or taking a bus to get from the suburbs to the train station and then riding the train into the center of the large city.

Anyway you look at it, finding a way to and from school or work is the first item of most people’s day. And once you arrive — there is work!

Most Americans work a 40-hour week with two days a week off. Many do not have consecutive days off but most have Saturday and Sunday as their weekend. That’s why the Monday holiday came to be popular. Moving several holidays to Monday observances meant one less day to fight the traffic into and within large cities. Schools could stay closed one more day cutting expenses there: school buses would not be out on the streets those Mondays.

Labor Day is the accepted sign that summer vacation is over for schools and that the time to enjoy outdoor family time is slipping away. We still have football and baseball and soccer. There is still golf! But this is the weekend many people bring their boats home from the lakes; pack up their patio furniture, have one last hurrah with the grill, store away yard decorations and at least set a date for when to empty and cover the pool.

So what are you going to do on Labor Day? Are you going to labor or claim your right to goof off for the last holiday weekend of the summer?

Whatever you decide, have a great Labor Day!