Labor may seem like a quaint carryover from the times of large unions and heavy manual production, but even in our technology age, there is nothing that we do in a day that doesn’t rely on the efforts of others. From the beds we sleep on, the food we eat, the buildings we live and work in, the roads we travel, the vehicles we drive, the technology we use, to the services that facilitate every aspect of our lives, it is all thanks to the labor of others.
And while there maybe a legitimate claim that the world would be much better place with a lot less of our stuff, can you imagine your life without clean water, garbage and sewage removal, banking, phone, internet, health care, emergency services…
The labor each of us expends can never be just about a job, just about a paycheck or even, just a means to an end, whether that end is wealth, power, prestige… or even, survival. Our labor is what we add to society. Positive or negative it impacts our lives and our world daily.
No man is an island and neither is our work. So add value with what you do:
Value the Labor You Do
Only when we value our own contributions, what ever they may be, do we make them worthy of the effort.
All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
Labor With Heart
While it is our physical and mental exertions that create things, it is heart that makes us care about our impact on others. It makes us aware that it is not just what we do, but how we do it that adds value to others.
“Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.”
~~ Albert Einstein
Value The Labor of Others
Everything we do or create is built upon the work of others and will, in turn, be the basis for someone else’s work. We are all part of a continual chain of doing and creating. If we don’t value what others add to the process as much as our own, the whole chain falls apart.
Einstein said it well.
“Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.”
~~ Albert Einstein
Wishing you a “Happy Labor Day,” today and every day! And the next time some one asks you what you do, tell them about what you add. I’ll bet it’s a list to be proud of!
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Below The Salt News Archive 
good reminder on the holiday – we need each other to be successful, as no one can do it in isolation.
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Yes, we need others to succeed, but it’s even more basic than that, we also need other people to survive.
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Wonderful post!
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Thank you!
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“Value The Labor of Others
Everything we do or create is built upon the work of others and will, in turn, be the basis for someone else’s work. We are all part of a continual chain of doing and creating. If we don’t value what others add to the process as much as our own, the whole chain falls apart.”
THIS!! Loved this, Linda. It really speaks to be value of mutual respect.
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Thank you! Yes. To me mutual respect is just so vital to all our social functioning!
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