What Is Labour Day?

When I grew up things were different!

All the stores were closed on Sunday and Monday. The whole town shared the same opening and closing times throughout the rest of the week. Sometimes we had Saturday night shopping. Families would hurry through supper so they could angle park their cars on the main street and use the time to socialize with friends who popped in and out of the shops. There weren't any convenience stores though and there sure wasn't any way to get a quart of milk at night if you forgot to pick one up during the regular hours.

Employees usually went home for lunch and had coffee breaks in the local café where each day they flipped to see who would pay for it.

School went until 4:30 pm and then we had piano lessons or church activities to complete before supper.

There wasn't a big fight about television because we only had a couple of channels. This was before computers and iPods and other technology so we played board games or read.

We didn't want to read too long at the cabin because the light was from a coal oil lamp so we usually just went to bed when it was dark.

There was a beginning to the day and an end to the day that everyone observed.
Today, we have stores that are open every day around the clock so we can purchase anything we want whenever we want it.

Hundreds of television channels offer programs twenty-four hours a day and computers allow us to surf the net to get information from around the globe as it happens.

Many employees are faced with distant job sites that require good transportation and shift work. As a result, their lunch and coffee breaks occur at various times - if taken at all.

Children might participate in home schooling, distance education programs or attend schools that each have different schedules.

The fact that we have a global economy means that employees are receiving Faxes or text messages from China or Europe in the middle of the night, a situation that can negatively affect sleep patterns.

It's a different world all right - one with chaotic demands that seem to steal our rest, divide our families and interfere with building community relationships - if we allow that to happen!

We have just celebrated Labour Day in Canada. This is an annual tradition of honouring those who have built and continue to build our country through their work.

Hmmmmmm. Labour Day! I've just been wondering how everyone observed it when there isn't a standard definition of the word "day" anymore!