Honoring All Of Our Labor

Labor Day is a holiday which can bring up a lot of emotions especially for anyone who:

• Is underemployed or are unemployed
• Finds themselves giving their labor to something not meaningful
• Finds themselves giving their labor to an toxic workplace/manger
• Finds themselves working for someone is not putting their health and safety first (such as refusing to require vaccinations or masks.) 
• Finds that the labor they give is not credited because it is non-traditional

This poem I wrote back 2014 gets at some of the complexity of labor and labor day for so many of us. And while my situation has changed since 2014 the main themes have remained the same:

A Labor Day Poem: What gets me up in the morning

By Dreaming Ace

I never thought of Labor day

As an emotion filled Holiday

But for us who are without work

Sometimes all we feel are the sling and arrows

Of discouragement and disappointment

I often struggle in the articulating what I am passionate about

But I realize despite this my life is indeed filled with passion

I am Passionate about the Fundamentals

The Fundamentals of Life

Love and Story and Beauty and Joy

In all their many forms

And you asked what gets me up in the morning

There are so many answers

An ever changing Kaleidoscope

And I thank the heavens for that truth

I get up in the morning for People

For Friends who stand quietly by my side

For Historical Figures and Famous Individuals whom I shall never meet in person

For Characters who I will always know better then myself and will always know me in return

I get up in the morning for Places

For HC, and Chicago, and the TARDIS

These will always be my sister, mother, child

Always be my friends forever

I get up in the morning for Things

For Music, and Books, and Films

For Dancing and Walking and Dreaming

For all the Millions of Magical Moments which Touch my Soul

So while I can not tell you

In this moment of time

My Work, My Vocation, My Job

And while there will always be moments

I forget the bright stars shining within me

Day by Day I will place one foot in front of the other

On and On and On until forever

And give life and time

The space it needs to inspire

So this labor day take a moment to think about all those who have brought us this holiday, and a moment to consider how you are using your own labor. I hope you have a restful and meaningful Labor Day. 

(And in honor of the holiday I won't write a blog post on Monday, but I'll be back on Wednesday)