The Difference of Labor and Work
Labor Day is one of my three favorite holidays each year. Christmas being my favorite. (This is no big surprise). Labor Day and New Year’s Day are tied for the second spot. These two are not typically ranked in most people’s top three.
My extended family celebrates both holidays in an almost identical way. Both start with parades in the morning and conclude by spending the rest of the day playing games, eating, and enjoying time with family.
This doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy the other holidays, because I do. These three are just my favorites.
As I was looking forward to the upcoming holiday, I began thinking about the reason behind the celebration. Labor Day was started to show appreciation for the hard-working labor force in America in the late 1800’s.
We often forget the reasons behind holidays.
We need to remember the reason for this and all holidays. Don’t just look at it as another reason to barbecue with friends or go to the lake.
The problem I have with Labor Day is the view that there is a separation between labor and management or employees and business owners.
No doubt there’s a difference in the roles of these two groups. Too often it’s seen as a battle between the two. It’s us against them. There certainly have been and still are situations where this is true.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
This attitude is a problem for both groups. It’s a view that there is a limited amount of pie and if I don’t get my piece, there may not be any left.
This “scarcity thinking” in a world of abundance isn’t beneficial to either side. God will provide enough for everybody if we do the work we’ve been called to do. If we would quit viewing labor and management as two competing entities.
Instead, we should look at both as being on the same team working together. Then both would benefit.
Having been on both sides of the employee/owner relationship, I can tell you that both work hard to achieve success. It is easy to look at other people and think they have it easy. This is rarely the case.
If all involved work hard together toward the same goal everybody wins.
The definition of labor focuses mainly on the physical, while work refers to both physical and mental actions. Work seems less divisive than labor. We can and should work together toward the same goal.
On the first Monday of September this year, I’m going to celebrate WORK instead of labor.
Revised from previous post.