Labor Day makes me realize how labor is associated with working for money in this country. In one sense this is good and fitting. Working at a job to provide money for living is a decent thing. In this day and age of so much war spending on violence and killing, I wish a share of that money were put to providing jobs for the many in our country who cannot find a full time job to provide a living for themselves and their family. With wars leading to more wars and costing us billions and billions of dollars, providing decent jobs for those who want them would seem to be a more productive way for us to spend our money and lead to less tax and debt rather than more war spending leading to more taxes and debt.
However, labor can be too much associated with who a person is. A person who cannot work a job for a living wage is considered less a person for that fact. I remember a time in my past life where I was unemployed and did not feel adequate as father and man. Persons used to ask me what I did and I knew they did not mean what I did in life but what I did for a job. Sometimes I would say ‘nothing’ and they would not understand.
When I ‘retired’ from a job I found myself working harder than ever. However, since it was not for pay many persons do not consider that I had a ‘job.’ My work was considered ‘hobbies’ or ‘volunteer’ work.
For my part, since I have income from past work and my wife works a ‘real job’ I do not worry too much if my work is considered ‘labor’ or not. But many suffer not only the consequences of not having a job to make a living, but the stigma that comes from associating who we are with our ‘job’, work for pay.
Labor is noble whether it is for a great income, a small income, or for nothing.
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