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Worker's Ode to Labor Day 2011
Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again.
Work. Be grateful to be working. Work harder. Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again.
Give up time with growing children. Work. Keep bills paid. Years pass. Chances pass.
Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again.
Get older. Get scared to work less hard. Work harder.
No time for neighbors, community, friends, or the laziness of leisure. No riches. No home left.
Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again.
Sep 05, 2011
Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again.
Work. Be grateful to be working. Work harder. Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again.
Give up time with growing children. Work. Keep bills paid. Years pass. Chances pass.
Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again.
Get older. Get scared to work less hard. Work harder.
No time for neighbors, community, friends, or the laziness of leisure. No riches. No home left.
Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again.
No savings. No pension. All spent staying barely healthy enough to work harder.
Holidays a time for silent desperation. Alone. Or maybe go to sales at the stores where workers are working 'till they drop, reminders of just another working day in America.
No job. Lost. Shame. Bills never stopping. Work somewhere, work anywhere, do anything. Stay alive.
Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again.
Rich people and bosses have no guilt about holidays, no fear in a nap.
Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up, get up, get up, get up. Do it again.
Pay your taxes. Pay your bills. Pay their taxes. Pay their bills. You've lost everything that you valued anyway. Loser. Loner. Lazy. That's how the power class sees us all. We are tools of their American dream and the fools who lost their own. They are smarter than we. Whoopee.
Labor Day? Why are you not working? No job? Lost it? A day off? Why are you not working? At least go buy something that will swell the profits and power of those who find us all so pliable, so pitiful, so workable. Listen for the call. It may be the need for profits calling. If so, get up. Now.
Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again. Then stop. When you finally expire - literally and figuratively. Unless the wealthy and the powerful figure out a way to prolong our lives a little longer to make a few more dollars as they inject us with pain killers and tranquilizers so we cannot even scream on the way out of their profit-making agendas.
Labor Day? That's all day, every day, in every way. America has no holidays. And certainly not for workers or those who wish they were. We are someone else's holidays.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Donna Smith
Donna Smith is the former executive director of Progressive Democrats of America and currently a Medicare for All campaign surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again.
Work. Be grateful to be working. Work harder. Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again.
Give up time with growing children. Work. Keep bills paid. Years pass. Chances pass.
Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again.
Get older. Get scared to work less hard. Work harder.
No time for neighbors, community, friends, or the laziness of leisure. No riches. No home left.
Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again.
No savings. No pension. All spent staying barely healthy enough to work harder.
Holidays a time for silent desperation. Alone. Or maybe go to sales at the stores where workers are working 'till they drop, reminders of just another working day in America.
No job. Lost. Shame. Bills never stopping. Work somewhere, work anywhere, do anything. Stay alive.
Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again.
Rich people and bosses have no guilt about holidays, no fear in a nap.
Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up, get up, get up, get up. Do it again.
Pay your taxes. Pay your bills. Pay their taxes. Pay their bills. You've lost everything that you valued anyway. Loser. Loner. Lazy. That's how the power class sees us all. We are tools of their American dream and the fools who lost their own. They are smarter than we. Whoopee.
Labor Day? Why are you not working? No job? Lost it? A day off? Why are you not working? At least go buy something that will swell the profits and power of those who find us all so pliable, so pitiful, so workable. Listen for the call. It may be the need for profits calling. If so, get up. Now.
Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again. Then stop. When you finally expire - literally and figuratively. Unless the wealthy and the powerful figure out a way to prolong our lives a little longer to make a few more dollars as they inject us with pain killers and tranquilizers so we cannot even scream on the way out of their profit-making agendas.
Labor Day? That's all day, every day, in every way. America has no holidays. And certainly not for workers or those who wish they were. We are someone else's holidays.
Donna Smith
Donna Smith is the former executive director of Progressive Democrats of America and currently a Medicare for All campaign surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again.
Work. Be grateful to be working. Work harder. Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again.
Give up time with growing children. Work. Keep bills paid. Years pass. Chances pass.
Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again.
Get older. Get scared to work less hard. Work harder.
No time for neighbors, community, friends, or the laziness of leisure. No riches. No home left.
Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again.
No savings. No pension. All spent staying barely healthy enough to work harder.
Holidays a time for silent desperation. Alone. Or maybe go to sales at the stores where workers are working 'till they drop, reminders of just another working day in America.
No job. Lost. Shame. Bills never stopping. Work somewhere, work anywhere, do anything. Stay alive.
Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again.
Rich people and bosses have no guilt about holidays, no fear in a nap.
Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up, get up, get up, get up. Do it again.
Pay your taxes. Pay your bills. Pay their taxes. Pay their bills. You've lost everything that you valued anyway. Loser. Loner. Lazy. That's how the power class sees us all. We are tools of their American dream and the fools who lost their own. They are smarter than we. Whoopee.
Labor Day? Why are you not working? No job? Lost it? A day off? Why are you not working? At least go buy something that will swell the profits and power of those who find us all so pliable, so pitiful, so workable. Listen for the call. It may be the need for profits calling. If so, get up. Now.
Work 'till you drop. Stop. Drop. Get up. Do it again. Then stop. When you finally expire - literally and figuratively. Unless the wealthy and the powerful figure out a way to prolong our lives a little longer to make a few more dollars as they inject us with pain killers and tranquilizers so we cannot even scream on the way out of their profit-making agendas.
Labor Day? That's all day, every day, in every way. America has no holidays. And certainly not for workers or those who wish they were. We are someone else's holidays.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.