Labor Day Weekend 2013

Not So Old Tybee Ranger                                        ca. 1950   

Labor Day comes Monday, but I figured addressing the theme today would make sense as most of us will be enjoying the day with family and away from the Internet. My most memorable Labor Days occurred in the '50s and '60s when I attended the big day-long picnic sponsored by the paper mill that employed my home town. Four to five thousand people attended those picnics and enjoyed carnival rides, swimming, softball, field events, airplane rides, and a playground filled with wonderfully dangerous equipment that could never be built today. It all ended with movies under the stars at the drive-in theater next door.

Although many of the kids I played with those days ended up working at the mill, I imagine a number of them went on to college and enjoyed the mobility, greater incomes and opportunities it afforded. In the long run the college graduates made the right decision. Today, the mill employs only a quarter of the workforce it had during its post World War II heyday. The picnic is a shadow, too, and now held at a mediocre site.  Although the good union wages remain, the jobs are few, and the quality of life is wanting in a region now into its sixth decade of decline.

In my life, I've always made it a point to family, friends, and colleagues that all work is honorable. Every employee, from minimum wage to executive salary, contributes to achieving organizational success. A the same time, I've always agreed that money cannot buy happiness., but I also believe it can help us acquire misery to enjoy. Having owned a sailboat, albeit a small one, I know plenty about misery and enjoyment.  Still, that college diploma largely determines where one falls on the earnings scale and, at least in this country, the happiness index. Our persistent economic downturn may be changing that earnings and happiness index.  For one, opportunities to develop competencies beyond the campus have never been greater. Furthermore, we're learning some hard economic lessons that may likely restore the money habits of our grandparents and great-grand parents. Regardless, I think the American Dream has a good future in store. There will be bumps in the road to full employment but they simply make the good times more enjoyable.  It is widely known that mountains cannot stand without valleys. 

Have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend.