Blogging on my Birthday / The Importance of Labor Day

I hope everyone had a safe Labor Day holiday, and took a minute to give thanks to the men and women who labored before us to build this wonderful nation in which we live.

And this brings me to my topic today. Our generation is that of lazy, spoiled, self-righteous, little bastards... As a whole, we are more concerned with hip-hop, Hilton, and hand-helds than we are about giving thanks and living up to the expectations of our founders. We live in a generation where everything was given to us... even the impoverished, there was always someone offering something. The infrastructure was in place, public transportation existed, cable television, Nintendo, AAA roadside, electricity, microwave ovens, fast food, Starbucks, playboy, Internet, cell phones, CNN, etc, etc...

There was never any REAL struggle to "get" in our generation... Our biggest decision growing up was $0.49 hamburgers or nuggets in our McDonald's Happy Meal...

We forget that not too long ago there was no Happy Meal... actually, every meal was a happy meal... because there was food enough for everyone to eat, even the parents... It was not long ago that the only way into town was a stroll down a dirt road, highways did not exist... hell, CARS did not exist... or if they did, it was rare to actually own on. Skyscrapers were things of fiction, child labor was rampant in the industrial cities, food in the US was scarce, jobs were even more so...

And it was in those conditions, without power or running water, that the backbone of America was built. Men and women labored to provide the United States the tools necessary to grow into a world leader (we were not always on top). The coasts were connected by highway, then freeway. Towns turned into Cities as metropolitan centers sprang up across the nation... Men and women worked 40, 50, 60 floors above the ground without adequate safety equipment (because if you complained your job went to the next guy in line willing to shut up and work to feed his family)... Bridges spanned seemingly impossible gaps, bringing potential to once remote areas across the nation. Raging rivers were dammed, giving power to the nation. Telephones and Radios were invented, followed by television... Blood, sweat, suffering, and pride... The core of the US, creating a nation... And my hat goes off to everyone who has come before us.

Now, we are on a different path... Corrupt leaders wasting millions, billions of dollars wasted on "compassion" over progress... Cities destroyed by storms left as ghost towns because this generation lacks the backbone to work when the yoke is heavy on our backs... It is easier to move and look for a handout in another location. Instead of low cost, high quality work because of pride in our jobs...we get lowest bidder/matching quality...

Houses are defunct, roads are falling into disrepair, bridges are collapsing, dams are aging, power plants are at maximum capacity and at age, hundred year old steam pipes are erupting beneath city streets... the very pipes laid by our laboring founders.

What it took the Roman Empire hundreds of years to accomplish, we did in decades... and what it took the Romans nearly a thousand years to squander... well, we have done in a much shorter timeline.

From infrastructure, to our way of life... it is all connected. When we create a society incapable of supporting itself, of rebuilding in the wake of disaster, or lacking insight and innovation... well, you get a crumbled infrastructure, a corrupt ruling class, and a culture that ceases to exist.

So in observation of this holiday (and my birthday), don't look at it as a day to "hurry on in for the huge sale"... In fact, don't even take a day off... you don't deserve it... none of us do! You should, instead, gather the family and take a tour of an historical building... ask questions on the tour about the laborers, the architecture, and how in a time of horse and buggy such a feat was accomplished. We should give money to the historical societies locally... preserving what our government won't. And write an editorial to your local big city post echoing these same concerns...

And most importantly, put down your Venti-double-Mocha from Starbucks and ask yourself one question: What would I be willing to do to ensure a successful future for this country... What would I sacrifice to feed my family... or What have I taken for granted lately?

Introspection is the only way to know the self, to know your capabilities, to know your true worth... Look inside yourself... look inside the nation's self... What do you see, and what would you change?

God Bless!