There’s a certain irony built into Labor Day that tends to go unnoticed: we mark a holiday dedicated to work by taking the day off from it. As Helen Louise Herndon writes in American Thinker, both the U.S. and Canada honor labor on the first Monday of September—and then proceed to celebrate by doing anything but labor. Europeans, who observe May Day as their international labor holiday, do the same. The result, she suggests, is a culture that has quietly forgotten why work deserves honor in the first place.
For many, Labor Day has become less a tribute to workers than a final summer weekend of rest and recreation. But Herndon, writing in a piece titled “Labor Day’s unsung hero: Work,” contends that this annual pause reflects a deeper problem. In a leisure-loving world, she argues, work is increasingly treated as a necessary evil—something to be endured until Friday, or escaped entirely through a lottery win or a windfall. Monday mornings, she notes, are the least loved time of the week; rush-hour traffic crawls as if no one is eager to return to the job. “TGIF” is a common refrain, but “TGIM” will never catch on.
That attitude, Herndon says, is a far cry from the biblical view of work, which she explores at length. Work did not begin as a curse, she points out; it predated the Fall. The “sweat of your brow” only entered the picture after sin did. If humanity had never fallen, we would still be working today—not as punishment, but as a natural, productive, and joyful expression of who we are. She shares a personal image: after mowing her lawn and pulling weeds, perspiration stinging her eyes, she finds herself looking forward to the kind of work that existed before toil became painful.
Scripture, she writes, elevates work beyond mere self-interest. In Ephesians 4:28, the Apostle Paul urges those who steal to “labor, performing with his own hands what is good” — and then adds a crucial purpose: “so that he may have something to share with him who has need.” That verse, Herndon argues, turns work from a solitary grind into an act of compassion. It is not just about earning a paycheck; it is about having something to give to others. She imagines two possible corporations: one called “For Others, Incorporated,” for those who work with generosity in mind, and another called “For Self Only, Limited,” for those who work only to advance their own interests. She leaves little doubt about which one is more honorable.
The honor of all labor
Herndon’s broader point is that work—no matter how menial or risky—is honorable. But she also warns against self-righteousness. Those who are fortunate enough to work without needing public assistance must not look down on people who rely on welfare or unemployment benefits. She notes that Great Britain has struggled to entice people off the national dole to take jobs that are neither high-paying nor glamorous, and that “workfare” in the U.S. has faced an uphill battle. Still, she urges compassion for those who cannot work for any number of reasons.
She also sees work as a safeguard against destructive behavior. More crime, she suggests, is conceived in idleness than in the workplace. The Apostle Paul’s instruction in Ephesians—that a thief should stop stealing and instead do honest work—implies that labor is not only productive but redemptive. It channels energy away from wrongdoing and toward constructive ends.
A call to reframe the workday
The essay concludes with a practical hope: that work be raised “to its highest level as a constructive, creative activity, and a compassionate outlet.” Rather than counting down the hours until quitting time, Herndon suggests, workers could begin each day with the Psalmist’s prayer: “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; and do confirm for us the work of our hands; yes, confirm the work of our hands.”
Whether or not one shares Herndon’s religious framing, her observation about Labor Day’s irony is hard to dismiss. The holiday, which began as a tribute to the dignity of labor, has become a celebration of leisure. But if work really is honorable—and not merely a necessary evil—then perhaps the best way to honor it is not by taking a day off, but by reconsidering the way we think about the job we return to on Tuesday.
This article is based on an essay by Helen Louise Herndon that originally appeared in American Thinker on September 4, 2026.
Source: www.americanthinker.com — https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/09/labor-day-s-unsung-hero-work/