Labor Day and the 96-Hour Day: Honoring the Work Nobody Sees

Labor Day is supposed to be about workers.

But what exactly counts as work?

We usually think of work as the hours between clocking in and clocking out. It’s the job title. The paycheck. The uniform. The office, store, classroom, hospital, construction site—or wherever you happen to earn your living.

But some of the hardest-working people I know don’t stop working when their paid workday ends.

And some aren’t getting paid for much of their work at all.

That’s what I call the 96-hour day.

Obviously, none of us actually gets 96 hours in a day. We all get the same 24.

But sometimes we’re trying to squeeze four 24-hour jobs into them.

There’s the job—or the job of looking for a job.

Anyone who has seriously searched for work knows that applying, researching companies, tailoring résumés, writing cover letters, networking, interviewing and following up can become a full-time job all by itself.

Then there’s building a business.

Planning. Writing. Creating. Marketing. Learning. Fixing technology that refuses to cooperate. Developing products. Answering emails. Trying something that doesn’t work and figuring out what to do next.

Another full-time job.

Then there’s taking care of a home and the people and animals who depend on us.

Cooking.

Cleaning.

Laundry.

Shopping.

Appointments.

Repairs.

Helping an aging parent.

Taking care of the house and property.

Walking the dog.

Feeding everybody.

Making sure everyone else has what they need.

Another job.

And then there are the things we’re trying to do to build a life of our own—education, exercise, creative work, volunteering, community involvement, personal growth and the dreams we’re still trying to make happen.

Suddenly we’ve created a 96-hour workload inside a 24-hour day.

No wonder we’re tired.

Unpaid Doesn’t Mean Unimportant

One of the problems with the way we talk about work is that we tend to measure its value in dollars.

If someone pays you to do something, we call it a job.

If nobody pays you, somehow it can start looking like it doesn’t count.

But tell that to the person caring for an aging parent.

Tell it to the person keeping a household running.

Tell it to the person caring for animals every morning and every night.

Tell it to the volunteer who shows up when their community needs them.

Tell it to the entrepreneur working for months before the business produces a paycheck.

Tell it to the person sending out application after application trying to get back into the workforce.

Work doesn’t stop being work because nobody wrote you a check for it.

And maybe Labor Day is a good day to recognize that.

And Then There Are Our Animals

There’s another group of workers we don’t always think about on Labor Day.

Our animals.

Some animals have jobs in the most literal sense.

Service dogs assist people with disabilities.

Therapy dogs bring comfort.

Search-and-rescue dogs help locate people.

Detection dogs use their extraordinary noses.

Herding dogs and other working animals have worked alongside humans for generations.

But I think our companion animals do some pretty important work, too—even if you’ll never find it in a job description.

Your dog may be the reason you got out of bed this morning.

They may be the reason you went outside.

The reason you walked another mile.

The reason you talked to someone you otherwise would have passed without saying hello.

They remind us to play.

They interrupt us when we’ve been sitting at the computer too long.

They make us laugh when the day hasn’t given us much else to laugh about.

And when we’re exhausted from trying to cram our own 96-hour workload into 24 hours?

They’re often still there.

Waiting at the door.

Walking beside us.

Curling up next to us.

Reminding us that maybe the next item on the checklist can wait until tomorrow.

And What About the Workers Outside Our Windows?

There’s another kind of work happening around us every single day—work that doesn’t involve a paycheck, a résumé or even a human being.

Wildlife is working, too.

The birds outside are searching for food, protecting territory, building and maintaining nests, feeding their young and preparing for changing seasons.

Squirrels are gathering and storing food.

Bees and other pollinators are moving from flower to flower, doing work that helps entire ecosystems function.

Rabbits, deer, raccoons, foxes and countless other animals are navigating a world in which finding food, shelter and safety is literally a matter of survival.

We may call it nature.

For them, it’s another day of work.

And that’s one reason I have such a problem with fireworks.

I know some people enjoy them.

I don’t.

To me, setting off explosive fireworks—especially the random ones that continue in neighborhoods long after a celebration has ended—isn’t harmless fun.

Think about what that night is like for the animals who have absolutely no idea what is happening.

A wild animal doesn’t look at a calendar and say, Oh, it’s a holiday. Those explosions are nothing to worry about.

They hear an enormous, unexpected blast.

They see flashes.

Their environment suddenly becomes unpredictable.

And their instinct tells them one thing:

Get away from the danger.

Our companion animals can be terrified by fireworks, too. At least we have an opportunity to bring them inside, close the windows, stay beside them and help them feel safe.

Wildlife doesn’t have that luxury.

They don’t have a human explaining what’s happening.

They don’t know when the next explosion is coming.

And they can’t ask us to stop.

That deserves consideration.

Celebrating a holiday shouldn’t require frightening every animal within earshot.

There are ways for human beings to celebrate, gather, laugh, eat, play music and enjoy being together without turning the night sky into an explosion zone.

So while we’re talking about overlooked workers this Labor Day, let’s remember the ones outside our windows, too.

The birds.

The squirrels.

The rabbits.

The deer.

The pollinators.

The countless creatures whose daily work quietly keeps the natural world moving.

They were working before our celebration started.

They’ll be working after it’s over.

The least we can do is let them do it in peace.

Maybe That’s the Labor Day Lesson

So this Labor Day, yes—let’s recognize the people punching clocks, working shifts, building things, teaching, delivering, serving, protecting, caring, creating and keeping our communities running.

But let’s widen the definition.

Let’s recognize the caregivers.

The homemakers.

The job seekers.

The entrepreneurs who aren’t earning much yet.

The volunteers.

The people going back to school.

The people taking care of aging parents.

The people holding households together.

The people doing three or four of those things at the same time.

Let’s recognize the animals who work alongside human beings.

And let’s recognize the animals whose work happens quietly around us every day.

Because whether the work comes with a salary, a business card, a uniform, a wagging tail, a pair of wings—or absolutely no recognition at all—

work is still work.

AND IT SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED- NOT NECESSARILY MONETARILY- BUT AS EXPERIENCE TO GET THE PAID POSITION OR CLIENT TO GET WORK FOR OR WITH TO GET PAID. People should NOT rely on the government to sit back and not do anything and get paid. To realize how some people work continously and for free so often getting more skills, talent, knowledge and more under their belt employers need to realize this about those who have tried and failed not the people who expect everything for just existing- our animals look for food and shelter, they provide nuturing for their human counterparts, and more.

And perhaps one of the healthiest things we can do is stop judging ourselves solely by how many boxes we checked today.

You only received 24 hours.

If you’ve been trying to fit 96 hours of responsibility into them, maybe you didn’t fail to accomplish enough.

Maybe you’ve been doing far more work than anyone ever stopped to recognize.

So today, recognize it.

Recognize the work you’ve done.

Recognize the work others do that you don’t always see.

Recognize the animals working beside us.

Recognize the wildlife working quietly outside our windows.

Give your dog an extra scratch behind the ears.

Listen to the birds.

Notice the squirrel or the rabbit preparing for what’s ahead.

And then maybe—just maybe—take Labor Day seriously.

Put down the checklist for a while.

You’ve earned the break.

And while you’re resting, let the animals around you have a little peace and quiet, too.

Happy Labor Day from Doggone Healthy Choices—to every hardworking human and every hardworking animal whose contribution deserves to be seen.

Until tomorrow happy labor day, and have a happy and healthy tail wagging day,

Pamela and Freedom