With palms together,
Good Morning All,
With this weekend comes an opportunity to consider our work. Labor Day weekend has long been a "sale" weekend, a "party" weekend, and a last "family picnic" weekend of the summer. In truth though, most of our holidays are remembrance days. During their passage we should spend some time reflecting on their meaning.
We know that meaning can exist in two ways at least: personal meaning and communal meaning. In each case it is human beings, however, who make the meaning. The communal meaning of Labor Day is often geographic and socioeconomic. If we were living in a heavily unionized city, Labor Day takes on a decidedly different flavor and meaning than say in Miami, Florida where much of the city is devoted to play.
Still, some holidays should have a base line meaning and this meaning becomes a personal; one. The baseline meaning of a holiday is derived from its reason for being established in the first place. Then it is particularized individually and communally.
Labor Day is a day we reflect on the labor it takes to make our lives what they are. For some us us, labor is used as a tool to earn money, for others it is used as a tool to create. Labor involves effort. Labor involves deliberation. Labor involves patience.
Whatever our labor is we should remember it is our labor. To keep it ours we must do it with mindfulness. When we labor mindlessly it loses its value. When we labor for others sake only, labor becomes an enemy. When we labor only for the money we are paid, money itself becomes an enemy.
Considering labor is important then. A consideration of our labor can enrich our lives by helping us see our relationship to it and to those who do it.
Keeping this relationship a relationship of mindfulness and compassion is a very meaningful thing to do.
Be well.
3 comments:
Whatever our labor is we should remember it is our labor. To keep it ours we must do it with mindfulness. When we labor mindlessly it loses its value. When we labor for others sake only, labor becomes an enemy. When we labor only for the money we are paid, money itself becomes an enemy.
I am struggling with this, but your words bring mindfulness, which is always the beginning to healing.
I too was intregued by the section deb quotes.
Perhaps I am taking a different meaning, but if we are in the service industry, or in a job we see as being of service to others, then always knowing we are laboring for others, bringing value to their day, acting in a way such that these others are respected is what makes the labor worthwhile. In a sense, then, our labor is not our own.
The difference in in ownership of the activity. When working, work because we work. Not 'for the money' or the 'good' or the 'boss.' In each case when we separate what we do from what we are by seeking, so to speak, we are dividing ourselves from ourselves.
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