It’s not enough to get Labor Day celebrated as a holiday. That’s just a start.

I love the concept of Labor Day, but I do think there should be more to it than the whole grilling and sales idea. In fact, I have to point out if the store is open, someone is laboring! Seems to me, we should be taking stock of what we can do to truly implement Labor Day and appreciate laborers everywhere. We should reward the ones who encourage ethical behavior in employees, as well as treating them fairly, deny those that don’t our dollars and insist that they also get their products from those with safety and ethical standards.

Let’s reward the companies and small business that really do appreciate the employees, encourage honesty and customer service.

How about a sudden stream of customers for that store that is proven to reward the employees for a good job. That means whether it’s a local shop or even a chain store: for a chain store to pull it off, they might well not be agreeing with company policy to do it. So how about showing that ‘company’ that you prefer this individual link in their chain’s method of doing business?

Don’t support those companies who misuse or abuse the laborers.

That means everything from pressuring to work and shortchanging their pay to not shipping the jobs to a country that has no safety standards and even less pay. That’s a hard thing to do, I know, given that Wal Mart is on the list. And I’ve been in shock over their treatment of the employee who reported the dog in the hot car. Seriously? Forcing employees between ethics and a paycheck is just wrong! I’m sure Wal Mart is NOT the only place who has done this.  I know it’s not always possible, but we can try and even in trying, we can, en masse, make a dent. There are two things that get their attention: bad publicity and profit loss. One leads to the other.

Let’s reward the ones that demand safety and ethical practices in their products.

Why we are shipping clothes from countries that allow their entire work force to be put at risk, because they have bars on the windows and not enough exits. That reeks of slavery. I don’t want blood hidden within my clothes: blood of workers because the store saved a few pennies on safety in a foreign country. And the things I’ve heard about the chocolate industry are horrifying. I DON’T WANT MY CHOCOLATE TAINTED BY SLAVERY!  As for animals, I realize some are not concerned with ‘animal rights’ and ‘welfare’ and figure it’s just for vegan/vegetarians. But how that food is cared for until harvesting matters to our health.  Don’t we have enough health issues without that? Why would you want to eat a sick animal? Whereas an animal slaughtered cruelly in fear leads to stress hormones in the meat. Personally I’ve enough of my own, I sure don’t need the animals! And no, I am not a vegetarian.  How we treat animals is a reflection of how we treat people. People will eat that meat, and odds are, if it’s unhealthy and unkind for the animal it WILL have affects on our own health. As for the plants: well that too affects are health. (It’s also not in our best interest to let someone patent plants that through mother nature’s whims, wind and insects will spread. Do we REALLY want some large individual company in control of the food supply? That’s a terrifying thought!)

If you do have to go shopping today, don’t forget to say ‘Thanks’ to whoever is by the counter.

Thanks for working on Labor day, so I could get the steak for the grill or the sale price. You might just brighten their day.

Finally, the best reason to do all this isn’t just because it’s Labor Day.  It’s because we are all laboring at something and what happens to laborers matters to us all. It’s the difference between mouthing American ideals and patriotism and really meaning them. Otherwise what are we, but hypocrites? I think, and hope, we have more potential then that.