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| Robert Dilenschneider |
Labor Day — which comes late this year, September 7 — is first and foremost dedicated to celebrating the working people of America, the men and women who have helped make our economy the greatest the world has ever known.
This holiday is also a real pivot point in our lives — summer is over, even if only unofficially, a fresh school year is starting, a new season lies ahead for TV shows, Broadway productions and major movies, the NFL season is just underway, baseball is in the homestretch for the playoff, and the political campaigns to win voters' hearts and minds in November are getting serious.
Those campaigns are extremely important this year, especially on the national level, since they will determine which party controls Congress for the next two years. If you've been tuning out the political news so far, now's the time to focus.
The idea of having a day to celebrate America's laboring people was born in New York City in 1882 when the first parade was held on September 5. It was an impressively large event with some 20,000 marchers showing up, most of them losing a day's pay to take part.
Interestingly, we are not sure who deserves credit for organizing the parade. We do know that it was one of two men with very similar names — Matthew Maguire, a machinist, and Peter McGuire, a carpenter — but the record is unclear, in large part because over the years people mixed up the two sound-alike names.
Given its historic role in honoring millions of Americans, past and present, this day has always been a special occasion. I hope that for you and your family and friends it will be particularly so this year.
Have a wonderful Labor Day.
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Robert L. Dilenschneider is the Founder and CEO of The Dilenschneider Group, an international communications firm.
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