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Sept 1, 2003 Recently I had the privilege to go to a local museum that consists of 60 or so houses and buildings from the 1800's all arranged into a village. Everyone there is dressed in "period" dress. As I and my children strolled from house to house it dawned on me that the people who used to live in these houses had it hard. Real hard. Here we are about to have a day off called "labor day" and yet I think that if any of our ancestors were here among us they would scoff at what we call labor. I know that we have all heard the stories from our grandparents about how hard they had it. You know, the "I had to walk to school with no shoes on in knee deep snow in January" stories. Yet, I think that there was something to all of those stories. I think that in a way our ancestors were better people because of all of the hardships that they had, not in spite of them. Those hardships built character. They worked hard to provide for their children and they enjoyed any minute of free time that they had. They were, I venture to guess, never bored. Labor day was every day back then. What really impresses me so much about our ancestors are two things: 1) Their sacrifice; and 2)Their foresight. Their sacrifice was great. Whether it was something as glorious as fighting a war or as mundane as milking the cows they did it all with a sense of community. They did it all for the good of all. Their foresight was amazing. They seemed to have a sense of the future in mind. They all seemed to want better for their children and for their grandchildren. And yet, I have to wonder if they are not kicking themselves in the bum now that they see what we have done with all that they have provided for us. We complain and we argue constantly. We talk about "stress" and we all seem to think that we are in need of "antidepressants" or some other mood altering drug. Why? Because we are selfish. We have no sense of future. We see no need to sacrifice. Our ancestors were much to busy trying to do crazy things like eating and having shoes to wear that they never had time to be depressed. No kids had ADD. I am reminded of something my neighbor said to me recently upon returning home from a 14 hour day at his restaurant. I asked him if he was tired and he said, "Yes, but it is good to be tired." I think he had something there. And, like my wise uncle Mike used to say, "Your not tired unless you are too tired to eat." So, the next time that you complain about having to stay late at work or whatever it is that you complain about, remember this: Those who went before stayed a whole lot later at work every day of the week just so you COULD complain about working more than 40 hours in a week that holds 168 hours. Happy labor day. ------------ About the author: Wesley Mills is a full time student and writing instructor at Empire State College in Rochester N.Y. He also does freelance editing and writing and has his own company, "Writng Resources" which helps writers of all genres to write better and also does "book doctoring" and editing of all types. Email Wesley Mills: wmills1@rochester.rr.com Comment on this column in the forum. Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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