OVERWHELMED

The last week has been a very busy, busy week for me. I have worked, been in meetings, done planning sessions, and many, many other things. I am sitting here looking at my calendar for this coming week, and the only thing that I can see for me is the time that I have sat aside to watch Glee on Tuesday night. Other than that my time will be spent at work, doing homework, and dabbing in a few other little projects that I am currently consumed by.

Needless to say, I am overwhelmed, or am I? Tonight on my drive home, I began to think about that statement "I'm overwhelmed." Am I really overwhelmed or have I managed to be consumed by my emotions, which have placed me in a comfortable position to complain. Hmmm, I confess! I think that I have allowed my emotions to get the best of me, and that I have chosen to sit comfortable in the whiners corner and complain. See, I understand through my self-reflection that what I am feeling is not overwhelmed, it might be tired at the most but most definitely not overwhelmed.

Overwhelmed describes the feelings of the citizens of Pakistan who many are still without descent shelter weeks after a flood. Overwhelmed, is the mother who will place her child 6 feet under the ground because she has no way of feeding them. Overwhelmed, is the family who has lost their home, and their way of life as they know it is no longer the same. Overwhelmed is the person who just found out that their life will never be the same, because some terminal illness has chosen to reside in their body.

At this very moment choose to put aside my complainers cap, and embrace the things that are necessary for me to become the individual and being that I am destined to be. No longer will I complain. I will speak life-positive words into my situations.

Excuse my grammar and punctuation errors, but I had to get this typed because it just would not let me be.

Good night!

Live well, Laugh often, and Love much!

Kindrick

Happy Labor Day!

Labor day is not officially here, but many of us have already began to celebrate. I pose a very important question? What do you know about Labor day? Do you know the history of Labor day? How and why it has become the holiday that it is? Well, if you do not know, you have come to the right place.

Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Founder of Labor Day

More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.
Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

The First Labor Day

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.
In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

Labor Day Legislation

Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From them developed the movement to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

A Nationwide Holiday

The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take were outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.

The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.

http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm Accessed: September 4, 2010

I am spending my weekend camping with some friends. It is very, very, very quiet, and peaceful. I took a minute from my studies so that I could blog with you for a minute. I sooooo needed this rest and relaxation, after I finish reading this chapter for class, I will be able to do absolutely nothing but have a good time. YAY!

I won't keep you from your Labor day festivities, but thanks for dropping in and giving me a read. Have a Safe and very Happy Labor day!

Live, Love, and Laugh as much as you can this weekend.

Kindrick