It’s hard to believe Labor Day is less than a week from now. It’s not that the summer has come and gone because all summers come and go. It’s that this summer made little distinction between Memorial Day (pre-summer, I know), Independence Day, Tish’a b’Av, and every other day between May and today. Everything blended together.

Nevertheless, we should remember the importance of all workers not only on Labor Day but always; and we should be particularly thankful that First Responders of all kinds have been there for us doing their jobs, often at their own risk. They, too, have spouses and children, moms and dads, siblings and other family members; they, too, don’t know if the person next to them is infected; they, too, are not immune to the worst possibilities this virus can bring.

I recently heard a discussion about the impact of the USPS upheaval on mail carriers and what we can do for them? The response was fairly universal…a cold drink on very hot days and an occasional “thank you” note would be very much appreciated. Surely not to minimize the hard work of my mailman (sic!), but how much the more so nurses and doctors, the police and firefighters, and all others on the front line. At least a “thank you” when we see them would be appropriate just as a “thanks for your service” is when we see a member of the armed services in uniform. They appreciate it far more than we know!

So Labor Day will come and go. There might be on-line sales, even bargains in real-space department stores and the like. Families still might have cook-outs with the hotdogs six feet from the burgers. Fireworks might be seen in the air. All the “mights” are possibilities, but the labor of First Responders is not virtual, it’s real. And the labor of all those who are in factories or offices, labs or assembly lines, restaurants or on trash trucks…ANY worker must be appreciated!