Outro 0:09 This recording is an offering of Networks for Training and Development's online university. Rosa McAllister 0:17 Hi, everyone. This is Rosa McAllister of Networks for Training and Development Incorporated. And it is our monthly Healing Circle call. It is September the 6th, 2021. You may be joining us today, in this call, or you might be listening at some future date, to this call. As we record these and make these available as podcasts - we have a whole series - I think four plus years worth now of Healing Circle calls. We started doing this - I started doing Healing Circle calls probably about 10 years ago, or so. Probably a little bit longer than that, with a small group of friends, frankly, from around the world. Just as a time to get together and, and just remember that we're not alone. And then about four or five years, I guess about 5 years ago, 6 years ago, we started - actually, that's not true. I started doing these probably about 15 years ago, in total, with friends. And then, I don't know maybe that's 10 years ago, 8 years ago, started doing them within Networks and kind of putting it out there to a larger audience. And then we started recording them about 4 or 5 years ago. So we have the recordings all available and a podcast series. If you go to Networks website, Networksfortraining.org and you go to our Online University, up at the top on the menu bar, you'll find an access or link to all of these Healing Circle calls. Rosa McAllister 1:58 So we do them the first Monday of the month, at 8pm Eastern time. And so again, today is September the 6th, 2021. And it is Labor D,ay here in the United States. And I thought given that this is Labor Day, I thought that I would talk a little bit about labor, and this holiday and what this holiday is all about. And this idea of the work that we do. Sometimes in the Healing Circle calls, it's more of a meditation, or a time to think about something, or even some movements that we do. And it just, oftentimes, seems to fall on a momentous time. Either historically momentous time or something happening in the world, or even a celestial happening, astrologically speaking. So we try to incorporate in whatever is going on. So thinking about Labor Day. Labor Day in the United States is a federal holiday, a national holiday. And it falls on the first Monday in September. It was created by the Labor Movement in the late 19th century, and became a federal holiday in 1894. I didn't know that. I started came later. It also has come to symbolize the end of summer for many Americans. And there's oftentimes parties and parades and get-togethers and last laughs at the beach and things like that. Right now, with COVID, the pandemic still happening, it's probably a lesson time for that. We don't have quite as many gatherings. Although I'm seeing some posts on social media, some very large gatherings, it surprised me that people are doing but they are. So why do we celebrate Labor Day.? It's an annual celebration of working and workers and their achievements. And it originated during one of American, American Labor history's most dismal chapters. In the late 1800s, at the height of the Industrial Revolution, in the United States, the average American worked 12 hour days and 7 days a week in order to eke out just even a basic living, if that. And despite restrictions in some states, children as young as 5 and 6, worked in mills and factories and mines across the country, earning a fraction of what their adult counterparts made. Rosa McAllister 4:36 People of all ages, particularly the very poor and recent immigrants, often faced extremely unsafe working conditions with insufficient access to fresh air, sanitary facilities, and even just breaks in work. They had to work these long hours and steadily at inhuman, oftentimes, conditions. And as manufacturing increasingly supplanted agriculture as the way of life, the American Employment Labor Unions, which first appeared in the late 18th century, grew more prominent and vocal. They began organizing strikes and rallies to protest poor conditions, and compel employers to renegotiate hours and pay. This kind of went on. And then there was a Haymarket Riot of 1886 in Chicago, where several policemen and workers were killed. It was - it gave rise to long standing traditions on... In New York City, more and more workers united and held the first Labor Day Parade in US history, in September 5th, 1882. It became known as a working man's holiday. And initially, before it became a holiday, there were oftentimes were strikes, arranged on Labor Day, with workers just calling out sick or not showing up to work. Working, leaving the job. Leaving the floor of the warehouses in the factories, and leaving the lines. Leaving the work and going out to protest in order to get better conditions and better pay. So it became known as a Working Man's holiday, because it really wasn't an actual holiday for quite some time, but people were making it so. Rosa McAllister 6:31 Several states passed legislation finally recognizing it, and Congress would not legalize the holiday until almost 12 years later. In a watershed moment in American Labor History, brought workers right squarely into the public's view. Employment, employees, May 11th, 1894, employees of a Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago, went on strike to protest wage cuts and the firing of union representatives. The American Railroad Union joined in the boycott, and they called for a boycott of all Pullman railway cars, crippling the railroad traffic nationwide. To break the Pullman strike, federal government dispatched troops to Chicago unleashing a wave of riots that resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen workers. And it really wasn't then, until Grover Cleveland, who was our president in 1894, signed into law, the Labor Day Law, making it a national holiday. So again, we have many celebrations. Rosa McAllister 7:40 I just wanted to review some of the history,some of it, I was not familiar with. I was not aware of, I was not - I knew some of it, but I didn't know all. And I find it very interesting. I'd like to know where things came from, the genesis of things, the beginning and the history of things. Things that are, maybe everyday things to us, and yet we don't really understand. Rosa McAllister 8:12 And so with this idea of work, and this Working Man's holiday, wherever you are today, whether it is Labor Day itself, 2021, September 6th, or whether it again, it is sometime in the future, and you're listening to this, you as a worker, stop and think a little bit. Think about your work. Think about your employment. And maybe if you are not employed at the time, maybe you are retired, or maybe you're out of work for one reason or another. But regardless of that, think of the work. And I'm doing it in air quotes. Think of the work that you do. For many of us, there is our "work", and then there is our work. There are many things that we do. For myself, I work full time; Networks for Training and Development. And when people ask me, "What do you do?" "Do you still work, Rosa? What do you do?" I kind of launch into a usual thing, a usual description of what it is I do, who I work for, what Networks is, etc. But I'm going to ask you to think a little differently. And I want you to take a minute or two to really think about it. I'm going to ask you a question. And when I do, I don't want you to answer it as you usually do. Rosa McAllister 9:36 The question is,"What do you do?" "What is your work?" And I'm going to give you a couple minutes to think about it. Rosa McAllister 9:47 "What is it that you do?" "What is the work you do?" And I mean that you really do. Breathe, deeply and slowly and allow yourself to really think, "What is the work that you do?" (pause) You may hear some noises. I live across from a pool and there are people celebrating and jumping in the pool. Rosa McAllister 10:40 Again, "What do you do? What do you really do?" - all the things you do. And not just what you get paid for. "What is the work that you do in this world?" Rosa McAllister 10:56 I have another question for you. "Who benefits?" "Who do you work for?" And again, don't answer it as you normally do. So if I were being asked that, instead of saying, "I work for Networks for Training and Development." - No, no, no, no, no, no, no! "Who benefits?" "And who do you work for, really?" I'm gonna give you a minute or two. Rosa McAllister 11:41 Think broadly. Think deeply. And breathe. Rosa McAllister 11:53 Guess what, I have another question for you. "How do they benefit?" "What do they get from you and your work?" Again, don't answer it as you normally would. And maybe you've never even been asked this question. Maybe you've never really asked yourself. But these people that you work for, could benefit from you and the work that you do in this world. "How did they benefit?" "What did they get from you and your work?" Don't forget to breathe. Think deeply. Think expansively. (pause) Rosa McAllister 12:56 And no surprise - another question. "What would they miss if you were not there?" "What would these people miss if you were not doing the work that you do?" This is not a time to be shy, or coy or how humble. But really think about this. Rosa McAllister 13:23 "What would these people that benefit from you, doing the work that you do in the world -what would they miss if you were not there? - if you were not doing this work that you do?" I'm gonna give you a minute. I'm sorry, we have a little swimming competition apparently happening in the pool and some silly laughter. Rosa McAllister 13:59 "What would they miss if you were not there - if you were not doing the work that you do?" Rosa McAllister 14:16 And a 5th question, the last question for you from me. "What if you remembered this every day before you started the work that you do?" ; whether again it's paid or not. "What if you remembered all this?" - the people that you work for, those that benefit from you? "What they get from you, and what they would miss if you weren't there to give it to them, or to bring it to them, or to help them?" "What if you remembered this every single, solitary day?" "What if you remembered this each morning when you woke up?" "What could you do even more?" "How would that change your life?" "How would that change your work?" "How would that change you?" "And how would it change these people?" Breathe deeply. Think broadly. Don't be humble. Be real. Because all of us, in whatever it is we do workwise, whether it's actually paid or not, whether we think of ourselves as an affiliate or not, all of us bring so much to the world, in everything that we do. Rosa McAllister 16:00 In the past year and a half, I think we've become even more aware, with various projects, and honoring of essential workers, people that have continued to work and help us get through what has been a really terrible year and a half, with a pandemic that still isn't over. We all bring things to others. We all assist others. And we all have incredible opportunities to do even more. If we do it consciously, if we do it thoughtfully, if we do it, remembering all that we give, all that we are, and all that we could do. Rosa McAllister 16:50 I'm going to end this with a quote from Thomas Edison. He said, "Opportunity is missed by most people, because it is dressed in overalls, and looks like work." I'm going to say that again. "Opportunity is missed by most people, because it is dressed in overalls, and looks like work." - Thomas Edison. Rosa McAllister 17:17 Maybe you're not in overalls. Maybe you're dressed altogether different. But there's opportunity here. And sometimes, we all do this, we just, quote, go to work or do their jobs. But what if instead, we really looked at it as opportunities - opportunities to give and to do more. To recognize that people are gaining benefits from us, and that we give to others. Whether we're cleaning floors, doing surgery, teaching, whatever it is we're doing, we're helping others. So, on this Labor Day of 2021, I salute you, and all that you do, and all the work that you do, and all the love and joy and help that you bring to this world. I salute you, and I hope you salute yourself. Thanks for joining us and join in another healing circle call first Monday of every month at 8pm. Eastern time. Thanks. Outro 18:37 Thank you for listening. We hope the information provided was helpful. Don't forget to stop by our website and take advantage of all we have to offer. Transcribed by https://otter.ai