This is Labor Day Weekend

 Yesterday I overheard this conversation coming from another room while visiting someone at a medical facility.

"There's plenty of oil. We can easily withstand $3.20 a gallon, even as much as $5 a gallon. We don't need to drill. Those derrick workers think they deserve $90,000 a year for pumping oil? That's not how it works. They need to go to school and get an education."

I've got news for this person. Your Lexus is fueled by those oil drillers. The men and woman covered with oil, with sore backs and rough bands. The asphalt in the roads you drive on, the shingles on your roof, the plastic in almost every product you use, compliments of them.

They sit on beams welding the sky scrapers your office is in. They install the windows you look out of when you look down at everyone else "less educated." They fix your car with dirty hands and cut knuckles when the warning light comes on, on your dash.

They run the wires that power your home and work in the power plants that makes your electricity, install the plumbing that fills your hot tub and waters your lawn.

They drive trucks all night so your stores are stocked. They swing hammers and make houses out of lumber made from wood which was cut by more blue collar workers. 

They unload the trucks and stock the shelves in the stores you shop at. They smile and ring up your purchase when you shop often having been on their feet for hours. They stand in factories assembling every product you enjoy. There's no office for them with a chair and desk to put their feet on.

They cook your food in hot kitchens, wait on your tables, they work long days and nights in patrol cars, fight fires and walk into burning buildings, they work long dangerous shifts as corrections officers locked in with criminals you don't want walking down your street.

They drive snow plows all night so you can get to the office in the morning.

So to this arrogant prick I overheard. You need to educate yourself. The people with sore backs, rough hands and aching feet are the soul of this nation. You don't exist without them. 

To my working friends, this Labor Day is yours. Have a beer, have a bbq, enjoy your family and friends. You more than earned it!