Women Understand Labor Day

Today is Labor Day.  Women know all about that.  Labor day is our specialty.  Of course there are secrets associated with the birthing room that we share with almost no one.  But I am in a feisty mood today so this Labor Day I am going to offer up a peek behind the curtain.

First of all, take your visions of the Madonna and Child moment and set them aside.  Birthing is an earthy, messy business involving blood, flesh and bone.  Labor requires moving an extraordinarily large child through the birth canal.  [A newborn ape weighs just 3% of its mother’s weight, but a newborn human will weight twice that, about 6% of its mother’s weight.]          

             As a result of pushing a large child through a confined body space anything not involved in the birthing needs to get out of the way.  That means that the stomach, bladder and bowels get pushed aside and frequently empty themselves.  Nobody tells you that little piece of cheer at the ribbon and balloon festooned baby shower!

            Then, after all the various expulsions, including those of the baby are completed, there are a couple more surprises.  For a lifetime we are told that the pain of childbirth leaves you the minute they put the child in your arms.  It doesn’t.  What is more devastating, many times the mother is so exhausted—medicated—whatever—that instead of a wave of ecstasy when holding your newborn, the reaction is one of emotional neutrality.  Not every mother feels this, which makes the mother who does feel shamefully guilty.  Not to worry.  Nature makes this a temporary problem.  Once the mother is rested, or brings the baby to her breast, hormones and evolution turn on the mothering instinct full blown.  Suddenly this wonderful child is the very center of your heart, life and thinking. 

            The last surprise is a stomach that once was taunt and flat now looking like a limp sack.  What ever is going to be done with that!  Again, given time it returns almost to its pre-pregnancy state but, no, your body will never be exactly the same again.  Don’t worry, the child is worth it.

            Today is Labor Day.  When our nation began building first an agrarian economy and then transitioning to an industrial one there was plenty of mess, too.  No one worried about it much at the time—they were laboring to produce a farm, a factory, or a business.  Getting the job done was the important thing.  Likewise, things extraneous to the birthing of this economy were shoved to the side.  We didn’t worry about environment, age of workers, or the safety of the work place.  The mess was part of the birthing.  We worried about clean-up later.

     We did not immediately have a protective and affectionate sense of ownership of our burgeoning industry.  They were functional, not emotional.  But once we realized that businesses, large and small, were a product of our own creation we acquired a sense of parental concern.  And, like our children, we guided these businesses as they grew, and long for the day they exceeded our own accomplishments. 

To conclude the analogy, our creation of an intensively worker-based economy brought about changes that were permanent, unlike the original, and totally ours. 

Whether one labors with their hands, minds, imaginations or entrepreneurship the working people of this nation are the children of a free market economy and a free people.  America is great because of them. 

Make a little mess and keep the faith.