I’m not going to work today. Some of you will go to work today, and so the bright rays of fortune will reveal themselves to you in another way. Tant pis. Still, I’m glad, tickled, giddy…whirlingly, staggeringly stoked about 8 hours outside what I have been trained and forced to accept as my reality. I will not commute. If I leave my home, I will call that travel. All my destinations this first Monday in September will be unusual for I will not be daydreaming down the interstate to that same place, prioritizing phone calls, emails, and jobs, and hoping, just hoping to arrive on time even though I left 3 minutes late, 3 minutes which will transmute themselves into 15 and have some person or persons giving me looks as I make my way to my station. No! None of that is going to happen today. Imagine me doing a little dance, because I just did a little dance.
I’m going to do what I want. I’m going to sit with my coffee, reading a book. I’m going to sit in a room with friends, and listen to them say whatever it is they say. I’m going to sit playing a little of that videogame I’ve been neglecting, and wash the dishes in the kitchen sink. I might even have time to get all OCD about my bathroom. I might, if I am very lucky, have time to walk down to the coffee shop, and do nothing but nothing. I might wake up early, walk to the living room, and just sit for a while listening to the City wake itself. It is Labor Day, and America is celebrating me instead of a dead guy today, so I wanted someone to thank for the downtime. I found a person.
Peter J. McGuire is one of the people credited with proposing Labor Day as a national holiday. He made his proposal in 1882. There is also some credit given to a Mathew Maguire, and even though their names sound similar I do not think they are related. I’m going to talk about Peter, honestly, because I found more information on him in Wikipedia. You can read the article yourself. He was a man who spent his life fighting for labor rights. He was a major player in several organizations, and he paid for a lot of expenses out of his own pocket. There was a time when the 40 hour work week was not established. There was a time before the 8 hour work day. Peter J. McGuire was a man involved in that change. There was a lot of turmoil that happened around, leading up to, and after Labor Day was established in 1887 having to do with the Labor Movement.
I know very little about Peter J. McGuire, but I brought up the name for a reason. Peter J. McGuire was a real person. Peter J. McGuire had a name. He had a face, and he knew people. This is speculation, but he probably laughed at a joke or two. Peter J. McGuire was one of the people who pushed for a day when everyone celebrated the worker. He did more than write in a suggestion one day in 1882, and say, “Hey America, let’s just not all go to work one day out of the year, just for kicks. It’ll be just faby.” He dedicated a life to this movement, and there was a whole movement behind him. I’d like for the reality of that to be noticed today, so I told you a name of one guy.
There was a time in our country when the worker went uncelebrated. There was a time before labor laws. The Labor Movement is a big issue. It is much more than I can to handle in one post. It is more than I’d ask a reader to handle before noon, but I’d like to thank Peter J. McGuire for my day off.
Note: Peter J. McGuire has a terrific mustache.
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