President, Arlington Memorial Gardens
This
coming Monday our office is closed. It’s
a day off and of course everyone appreciates one of those. But, as we all prepare for the day away from
work – placing signs in our doors and recording the appropriate messages for
our voice mail, I wonder how many people really understand just what Labor Day
is all about.
While
there’s no doubt that many, perhaps most, people understand that Labor Day is in
some way connected to “labor,” I can’t help but think that the actual awareness
is somewhat vague and fuzzy. If that is
the case, then many of us are missing out on appreciating the full richness of
what the day is intended to represent: the celebration of the efforts of U. S.
workers who have added to our nation’s mosaic of economic, political and social
greatness.
Why is Labor
Day observed in September? Well, New
York City workers unions were growing in the decades following the Civil War
and they chose to hold a conference on the first Monday in September, 1882
because it was halfway between Independence Day and Thanksgiving. By 1887 the first Labor Day holiday was signed
into law in Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Oregon and in
1894, Congress declared the first Monday in September as Labor Day.
Some
people and even some commentators tend to ridicule the acknowledgement of Labor
Day as simply kowtowing to power of labor unions and suggest that to offset
Labor Day, we should adopt a day of recognition for managers, administrators or
capitalists. Yes, it’s true that
collectively unions have been the central actor in the history of the labor
movement; however, I don’t see it as an either/or proposition. Nor do I think that one needs to be a member
of a union – or for that matter, even sympathetic to the cause of unions, to fully
appreciate the importance of workers and the role they have played in the
development of this country.
Here
at Arlington, we acknowledge the role of all of our own “workers” leading the
way for us to “make a difference that matters.” But I’d like to pay a special tribute to the members of our Interment
Services & Grounds Maintenance Team. These employees are the ones who deal directly with the difficult, and
sometimes daunting, weather conditions that enable us, as an organization, to
provide services to the community and to those families we are so honored to
serve. From the hottest, most humid, dog
days of summer to those bitterly cold days of winter, they persevere and
serve. And so it is on this Labor Day that
we acknowledge and honor all of the hard “workers” here at Arlington and all
across America.
Daniel Applegate became part of the Arlington Memorial Gardens organization in 2001 and has worked in the cemetery industry since 1981, including serving as Secretary/Treasurer and then as President of the Ohio state cemetery association. He was appointed by Ohio Governor George Voinovich and served two terms on the Ohio Cemetery Dispute Resolution Commission, Ohio's cemetery oversight agency. He is a graduate of The Ohio State University holding a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science.
Daniel Applegate became part of the Arlington Memorial Gardens organization in 2001 and has worked in the cemetery industry since 1981, including serving as Secretary/Treasurer and then as President of the Ohio state cemetery association. He was appointed by Ohio Governor George Voinovich and served two terms on the Ohio Cemetery Dispute Resolution Commission, Ohio's cemetery oversight agency. He is a graduate of The Ohio State University holding a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science.
