Since it is Labor Day possibly we need a mascot and I propose the bee. No creature on earth is more industrious and diligent than the bee. The bee ought to be the visual to celebrate hard work.
This holiday is not often celebrated for the original intent to honor the working folks who provided for the amazing strength of the United States. Signed into law in on June 28, 1894 by President Grover Cleveland making the first Monday in September of each year a national holiday. From the Department of Labor’s website:
“Many Americans celebrate Labor Day with parades and parties – festivities very similar to those outlined by the first proposal for a holiday, which suggested that the day should be observed with – a street parade to exhibit "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day.
Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.
American labor has raised the nation’s standard of living and contributed to the greatest production the world has ever known and the labor movement has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pays tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership – the American worker.”
It seems to me that it now is the mark of the end of summer and the start of football. In years past and still in some locals, it is the start of the new school year. Little thought given to the origins of the holiday.
