0:02 hello and welcome to this special edition of the way to wow shows I'm your host Kevin bemel and I want to wish you a a meaningful and happy labor day here on the first Monday of September as as it is customarily celebrated so uh just like this is a this is a a kind of group of shows if you will that I started on July 4th with Independence Day and talked a little bit about the holiday and read the Declaration of Independence which is of course the document through which the United States
0:39 declared its independence from Great Britain so today I'm going to talk a little bit about first of all the the history of Labor Day and the meaning of the holiday and I have a another uh document that I plan to read that I I hope you will find meaning ful uh for the day I I I know we're used to thinking of these um especially the Monday holidays is well it gives us a long weekend and and that's certainly the case uh but these these holidays were established to give us time to
1:17 reflect on their various meanings and so that's why I wish people a meaningful as well as a happy labor day that that we really think about what what what is Labor Day all about and and why do we take this this one day a year uh to to Mark uh you know for for this um important um event is the wrong word this important uh feature I guess is the best way to put it of our society so um Labor Day grew out of the um early labor
1:54 movement in the late 19th century so um as you may know from your history classes right the United States at its founding was primarily an agrarian and Artisan based economy so U you know Farmers grew things and sold them um both domestically and internationally and Artisans crafted things so one of the most famous Artisans was Paul Rivier who was a silver smith and he he created cups and plates and and silverware Etc
2:29 that again was sold uh domestically and internationally as well and it it wasn't until the Advent of uh steam power uh the steam engine and the creation of railroads and the industrialization especially of the northern part of the United States that the the the real nature of the country started to change so we went from a country of of um primarily individual farmers and individual Artisans and of course there
3:05 were professionals as well lawyers and such um we went from a country of primarily individuals laboring essentially in their own businesses to one where large companies were created and people worked for those companies so uh uh textiles and clothing was was or textiles and fabric was was an early um heavily industrialized business so were uh railroads and Steamboat transportation and this was a new
3:41 feature of economic life in the country where someone spent really his whole life as laboring on behalf of someone else and and so in in many cases um these people labored for very long hours wasn't un unusual for them to work 12 hours a day or more six days a week they would have the Sabbath off um in in some cases in other cases they would work seven days a week there was no paid time off like we have nowadays there was no
4:17 there were no holidays except for perhaps Christmas um and and and so um you know for for someone who did not own his own Farm or maybe did but couldn't make a go of it and lost it and had to go to work for somebody else Life as a laborer was very very hard and once they became a laborer it was very very difficult for them to get out of the labor force and and go out on their own so the first Labor Day was celebrated in
4:55 1882 and it was a um it was it's it's it's usually been edited to a fellow by the name of Peter J McGuire um he was a co-founder of the American Federation of Labor the AFL or to um Matthew Maguire um not to be confused with Maguire he was a machinist and Secretary of the central labor union in New York so you know it's debated who came up with it first but you can see in both cases um they were labor leaders and the the first official Labor Day celebration took place on September
5:31 5th in 1882 um and it was organized by the central labor union there was a parade of about 10,000 workers who marched from City Hall to Union Square in New York and this first Labor Day celebration really set the stage for future uh Labor Day Celebrations and and so the idea of a day to honor laborers um began to uh gain popularity um and then as as we
6:07 continue on through the very end of the 1800s there were events that happened for example there was the Pullman Strike of 1894 it was a nationwide um Railroad Strike that began when pman workers in Chicago protested wage cuts and and the firing of Union Representatives um there was quite violent clashes the government send in troops to break it up and as a result the the the federal government realized that um there there they had quite a uh a bad
6:43 reputation among laborers the laboring class the United States and so as a way to sort of and by the way some workers were were killed in those clashes and so as a way to sort of um make amends to laborers Congress passed Federal legislation making Labor Day a federal holiday the bill was signed into law on June 28th of 1894 by President Grover Cleveland and it officially recognized the first
7:19 Monday in September as a day to honor American workers and their cont contribution to our society so you see that Labor Day as a holiday is 130 years old this year and so it's it's been around for quite a long time um let's see 7 over half of the the history of of our country um and and over the over the Decades of course Labor Day has evolved um it started out as a day of protest and advocacy now it's become more a day
7:56 of of General celebrations par parades picnics that sort of thing and um in My Day Labor Day marked the beginning of the school year now I know my daughter has been in school for for already about uh I think three weeks so um Labor Day kind of used to Mark The Unofficial end of summer um not not So Much Anymore um I I will say on a sartoria level which which isn't really recognized anymore um it used to be that um uh when men wore evening clothes Tuxedos and such so if
8:32 they were going to wear a white dinner jacket as oppos as opposed to a black tuxedo jacket they did so between Memorial Day in May and Labor Day in September um and to a certain extent the military followed that rule as well um nowadays it's not uncommon for men to wear white dinner jackets really all year round especially in a in a a warm climate like like Southern California um and and so that really is the the essence of Labor Day it's an opportunity for us to reflect on the contribution
9:10 that laborers have made uh the laboring class has made in our society so probably nowadays we would call them blue collar workers um and it's interesting to note that um I think on some level we're seeing a devolution or we have seen a Devolution of um of of of Labor um more and more labor people who are laborers starting their own businesses um not not as much as probably would be good for for society um and yet at the same time
9:48 over the last several years at least we've seen an upsurge in um Union activity and the the U you know favorable view of Labor Union by people in the United States so I read something earlier this morning in my email that something around 70 or 75% of Americans uh see labor unions favorably currently um that's that's that's high compared to what it's been um over the last few decades even as um members of labor unions as a percent of the
10:23 population is uh at its lowest that it that it's it's ever been so I think we would make a mistake if we thought of Labor Day as only honoring those people who are in involved in labor unions um many many people are not uh in labor unions for example in the Southeast there's a number of of automobile manufacturing plants where the the workers are not uh unionized and yet they they work equally hard um same
10:58 is true um among um you know facil like Warehouse facilities for example um only a few Amazon facilities are are organized by labor I was listening yesterday to a podcast that featured the CEO of um shoot um one of the sort of high-end Supermarket chains and all of a sudden I'm going up on the name um Whole Foods and he was saying that they were and and the the interviewer was asking him about his position on labor unions and he said um I I don't I don't have any problem
11:35 with labor unions um just here at Whole Foods we feel like having a direct relationship with our workers provides a much better um builds a much better company and provides a much better shopping experience for our customers so and and certainly I think we would want to include um the people who worked at Whole Foods we would want to honor them um this Labor Day um I I I shop at Whole Foods from time to time they people there work just as hard as the people who work at at Ralph's which is a Kroger's own Grocery Store where the workers are unionized so I think it's an
12:11 opportunity for us to think about our encounters with with labor now someone like me I'm a professional and so my encounters with with so-called um you know bluecolor workers or labors however we're going to refer to them usually is is in some kind of transaction and it's incumbent upon me to be mindful of how hard these people work and the Dignity of of what they're doing and I I would I would ask all of you who are watching this episode no
12:46 matter where you fit into the economic scheme of things to remember that someone who is perhaps working as a a clerk in a retail store or maybe if is um handling the landscape maintenance at your home or um you know works at a gas station um that that that um that that these people are um entitled to are are you know in decent treatment by us they're entitled to um the respect of of
13:22 you know one human being interacting with another unless you know a person acts in a disrespectful Manner and and so on on this Labor Day again I would ask you to reflect on how you interact with working people um whether as a colleagues whether as like I said in on a transactional basis and and just how how you think about them and how you think about how they should be treated and and and respect the the
13:58 the Dignity of of work and the service that they're performing so in honor of Labor Day I I looked around for something to read that I thought would help us focus on on this idea of of the the proper way to think about people who work work for a living work in in labor Associated fields for a living and I found a speech that was given by Martin Luther King Jr on October 26th
14:36 1967 at Barrett Jor High School um I believe it was for a the gradu a graduation and and and Martin Luther uh Dr Martin Luther King uh spoke uh in this speech about the the Dignity of of Labor and so I am going to read this speech and I I you know again I hope you will find it um it will help you focus on you know the meaning of of this day so um Barrett
15:12 Junior High School was in the city of Philadelphia um it was a high school uh heavily populated by um black children and and that's to whom I think um Dr King is speaking um but but I I think that that does not nonetheless it's relevant to all of us um and and and in reading the speech I really felt like um it speaks to all people and and I do think by the way that that is a lot of the power um of of Dr King that um although he was looking
15:47 to uplift black Americans indeed what he was really talking about was uplifting um all Americans and and our society and culture in general so here we go principal Mr Williams members of the faculty and members of the student body of Barrett Jor High School ladies and gentlemen I need not pause to say how very delighted I am to be here today and to have the opportunity of taking a very brief break in a pretty busy schedule in the city of Philadelphia to share with you the
16:22 students of Barrett Jor high school I guess I ought to start out with a commercial and that is tonight we're going to have a great night in the city of Philadelphia at the Spectrum I know you've heard that the new impressive structure called uh I know you've heard of that new impressive structure called the Spectrum and I know you've heard of Harry bellafonte and artha Franklin and nipy Russell and Sydney potier and all of these other great and outstanding artists well they're going to be here tonight at the Spectrum and I hope that
16:57 each of you will go home and tell your parents to be there tonight for this great Freedom Festival and I hope you will also I I hope you will come also for it will be a great experience and by coming you will be supporting the work of the Civil Rights Movement now that I've gotten the commercial out of the way I'll move on and say some things that I want to say very briefly and I'm being very honest I'm going to be brief because I have other engagement ments I don't have a tradition of being brief all the time you know I am a Baptist
17:34 preacher and we can talk a long time but today I'm going to be really brief but but I'm going to be really brief today I want to ask you a question and that is what is your life's blueprint this is the most important and crucial period of your lives for what you do now and what you decide side now at this age May well determine which way your life shall go and whenever a builder a building is constructed you usually have an architect who draws a
18:11 blueprint and that blueprint serves as the pattern as the guide as the model for those who are to build the building and a building is not well erected without a good sound and solid blueprint and now each of you is in the process of building the structure of your lives and the question is whether you have a proper a solid and a sound blueprint and I want to suggest some of the things that should be in your life's
18:46 blueprint one a deep belief of dignity worth and somebodiness number one in your life's blueprint should be a deep belief in your own dignity your own worth and your own somebody's don't allow anybody to make you feel that you are nobody always feel that you count always feel that you have worth and always feel that your life has ultimate significance now that means you should not be ashamed of your color you know
19:23 it's very unfortunate that in so many instances our society has placed a stigma on the negro's color you know there are some Negroes who are ashamed of themselves don't be ashamed of your color don't be ashamed of your biological features somehow you must be able to say in your own lives and really believe it I am black but beautiful and believe that in and believe that in your heart and therefore you need not be lured into
19:58 purchase Cosmetics advertised to make you lighter neither do you need to process your hair to make it appear straight I have good hair and it is it is as good as anybody else's in the world and we've got to believe that now in your life's blueprint be sure that you have a principle of some buiness two the determination to achieve excellence in your various fields of Endeavor secondly in your life's blueprint you must have the basic
20:34 principle the determination to achieve excellence in your various fields of endeavor you're going to be deciding as the days and the years unfold what you will do in life what your life's work will be and once you discover what it will be set out to do it and to do it well and I say to you my young friend that doors are opening to each of you doors of opportunity are opening to each of you that were not open to your mothers and your fathers and the great challenge facing you is to be ready to
21:11 enter those doors as they open Ralph Waldo Emerson the great essayist said in a lecture back in 1871 that if a man can write a better book or preach a better sermon or make a better mouse trap than than his neighbor even if he builds his house in the woods the world will make a beaten path to his door this hadn't always been true but it will become increasingly true and so I
21:47 would urge you to study hard to burn the Midnight Oil I would say to you don't drop out of school and I understand all of the sociological reasons why we often drop out of school but I urge you in spite of your economic plight in spite of the situation that you are forced to live so often with intol intolerable conditions stay in school and when you discover what your life what you're going to be in life set out to do it as
22:22 if God Almighty called you at this particular moment in history to do it it and just don't set out to do a good negro job but do a good job that anybody could do don't set out to be just a good negro doctor a good negro lawyer a good negro school teacher a good negro preacher a good NE negro Barber a beautician a good negro skilled laborer for if you set out to do that you have already flunked your
22:57 matriculation exam for entrance in into the University of integration set out to do a good job and do that job so well that the living the dead and The Unborn couldn't do it any better if it falls to your lot to be a street sweeper sweep streets like M Michelangelo painted pictures sweep streets like Beethoven composed music sweep streets like Le leontine price
23:32 sings before the Metropolitan Opera and sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry sweet sweep streets so when that all the hosts of Heaven and Earth will have to pause and say here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well if it fails to your lot to be a street sweeper if if you can't be a pine on the top of
24:07 the hill be a scrub in the valley but be the best little scrub on the side of the Hill be a bush if you can't be a tree if you can't be a highway be a trail if you can't be the Sun be a star for it isn't by size that you win or you fail be the best of whatever you are we always we already have some Noble examples of black men and black women who demonstrated to us that human nature
24:42 cannot be cataloged they in their own lives have walked through long and desolate nights of Oppression and yet they've risen up and plunged against cloud-filled nights of Affliction new and blazing stars of inspiration and so from an old slave cabin of Virginia's Hills Booker T Washington rose up to be one of America's great leaders he lit a torch in Alabama and darkness fled in that setting yes you should know this because
25:17 it's in your own City from a poverty-stricken area of Philadelphia Pennsylvania Maran Anderson Rose up to be the world's greatest contralto so that a tuscanini could say that a voice like this comes only once in a century and sabellius of Finland could say my roof is too low for such a voice from the Red Hills of Gordon County Georgia and the arms of a mother who could neither read nor write Roland Hayes rose up to be one of the world's
25:54 great singers and carried his melodious voice into the Palaces and mansions of kings and queens from crippling circumstances there came a George Washington Carver to carve for himself an imperishable niche in the annals of science there was a star in the Diplomatic sky and then came Ralph Bunch the grandson of a slave preacher and he reached up and grabbed it and allowed it to shine in his life with all of its scintillating Beauty there was a star in the athletic sky and
26:32 then came Jackie Robinson in his day and Willie Mays in his day with their powerful bats and their calm Spirits then came Jesse Owens with his Fleet and dashing feet then came Joe Lewis and M Muhammad Ali with their fists all of them came to tell us that we can be somebody and to justify the conviction of the poet fleecy SE loocks and black complexion cannot forfeit Nature's calm skin May differ but affection dwells in black and white the
27:08 same and if I were so tall as to reach the pole and to grasp the ocean at a span I must be measured by my soul the mind is a standard of the man I think those are enormously powerful words and like I said I I I hope they resonate with you no matter who you are what your background is uh what your race your ethnic origin
27:44 is each person in the world is entitled to be treat treated decently this is this is the message of Dr King and on this Labor Day when we honor the work that has helped build America it behooves us to keep in mind that we are a country built from people coming from all over the world some by
28:20 choice some not so and each of us here has the opportunity to be free and to work and to raise our lot in society some of us have greater opportunity than others but all of us are indeed entitled to an equal Dignity of treatment and so for for for this Labor Day I ask you
28:55 to reflect on that and going forward to vow to treat with decency each person you meet during your day but most especially those who are laboring to make this country a better place so once again I wish you a meaningful and happy labor day I thank you very much for joining me tomorrow at
29:31 10:00 a.m. Pacific time is my show business lessons from the military and I will be talking oh my guest is Kyle Packard and Kyle will be talking about military strategies and Building Wealth and I hope you will join me Kyle is a is is a a fellow veteran and has has built a very success ful practice helping people build wealth and the principles he uses all came from his military career on Wednesday at 10: a.m. Pacific
30:09 time is my show people making money and I'm going to talk about it's not what you it's what you build not are born with that counts so I'm going to be talking about one of my favorite books called Talent is overrated and this is a a lesson I think we all all need to learn in our professional and business lives so again I invite you to join me on Wednesday at 10 AM Pacific time and then a week from today on Monday excuse me at 10: am we'll will return to our regularly
30:44 scheduled show uh uh trust and Estates weekly and my guest I believe yes is my very dear friend Bill gross and he's he's one of the top uh probate real estate agents in the country and bill is going to be talking about the recent changes in the way real estate agents work as a result of the lawsuit against the National Association of Realtors so I invite you to tune in for that um it it it's already been impacting the work that I do and I'm I'm very fortunate
31:21 that I have um Bill available to help me you know figure out what is the proper and and ethical path through this so um you won't find anybody more knowledgeable about this subject so again thank you so much for joining me today on this holiday Labor Day May it bring to you A Renewed appreciation for the Dignity of of all people not just here in the United States but throughout the world have a wonderful rest of the day and signing off as I always do Marie darling You Are
31:58 My Bell