For the worker, a Labor Day scrapbook

THE HERALD NEWS EDITORIAL STAFF

In tribute and honor of this Labor Day, editors of the Herald News offer the following amalgam of verse, quotation, prose and history in recognition of work and the worker.

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“When you eat the labor of your hands, You shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.”

Psalm 128, the New King James Version

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“God has given him great health and a great work ethic and he has been lucky enough to avoid the kinds of problems that could have very easily ended the streak. Will this record ever be broken again? Well, I know I sure won’t be around to see it if it ever is.”
Baseball broadcaster Ernie Harwell, commenting on the consecutive games played streak (2,632) set by famed Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr. (Source: Baseball Almanac)
“Real work is finding your lifework in the work that you love.”

David McCullough

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“Work is the curse of the drinking classes.”

Oscar Wilde

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“El pueblo unido, jamas sera vencido”
“The people, united, will never be defeated.”

Sergio Ortega, 1973

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“Polly Crow worked the night shift at the Jefferson Boat Company outside Louisville, Kentucky. She helped make LSTs. She wrote her husband, who was in the Army, about their savings — something young couples in the Depression could only dream about … To make that money, Mrs. Crow worked a ten-hour shift.
She cared for her two-year-old son during the day; her mother looked after the child at night.
She did volunteer work at the Red Cross.
She shared her apartment with another woman and her mother.”

From “D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II,” by Stephen E. Ambrose (Simon &Schuster, 1994)

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Peter: Our high school guidance counselor used to ask us what you’d do if you had a million dollars and you didn’t have to work. And invariably what you’d say was supposed to be your career. So, if you wanted to fix old cars you’re supposed to be an auto mechanic.
Samir: So what did you say?
Peter: I never had an answer. I guess that’s why I’m working at Initech.

From the 1999 film, “Office Space” (screenplay, Mike Judge; imdb.com)

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I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
Alive as you and me.
Says I “But Joe, you’re ten years dead”
“I never died” said he,
“I never died” said he.

From “I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night,” a 1930 poem by Alfred Hayes, later famously performed by folk artists Pete Seeger, The Dubliners, Joan Baez and many others.

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