On this Labor Day weekend, many of us may be thinking of a quick retreat into summer vacation mode during the three-day break. It is a time to celebrate the return of college football and the promise of cooler temperatures. Fans of America’s pastime are strapping in for the final month of the season while professional football fans also are gearing up for a new campaign

There will be festivals, parades, good food cooked outdoors for perhaps one of the last times this year and a general sense of not only celebration, but transition.

Despite most public school boards’ best efforts, this is the traditional end of summer. And the break it offers is so appreciated because the people Labor Day is meant to honor –like many of you, hard working men and women who provide daily for their families — have a chance to take a step back and appreciate all you’ve done.

You’ve definitely earned it.

“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,” says the U.S. Department of Labor’s History of Labor Day web page.

“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.”

Consider that — so much of the world’s innovation has come through the efforts of the American worker. That’s impressive — and it continues today. When put to the test, American workers are more productive than anyone else in the world. They problem-solve on the job, they adapt to new technologies and they understand the concept of a hard day’s work.

One of the possible founders of Labor Day, Peter J. McGuire, said in 1882 there should be a day set aside for “a general holiday for the laboring classes.” One of the first proposals for the day said it should include parades to exhibit “the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations.”

According to the Labor Department, the broader economic, civic, spiritual and educational significance of the first Monday in September came later.

It evolves as our country’s workers have evolved. The majority of us are no longer farmers, blacksmiths or carpenters. Now, the most common job in the U.S. is fast food/counter workers, but fast-growing fields include wind turbine service technicians, solar photovoltaic installers, nurse practitioners, data scientists and information security analysts.

Despite the changes, the sentiment behind the holiday remains as important as it was more than 140 years ago. And that will continue long into the future as workers grapple with adapting to a workplace where artificial intelligence has a place. As they have in the past, American workers will adapt their skills to meet the demands of the day to help move our nation forward.

Hard-working, ordinary men and women built this country and continue to be the reason it keeps moving forward.

So on this Labor Day weekend, we celebrate us.

—

“Whenever you are engaged in work that serves humanity and is for the building of humanity, it has dignity and it has worth.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Without labor, nothing prospers.” — Sophocles