Remember the old joke… if all the cars in the United States were placed end to end, it would probably be Labor Day weekend. Maybe not so much this year from fear amongst us.

Labor Day was set aside as a time to recognize this masterpiece that God gave to all Americans. We celebrate labor in our lives because it constitutes the majority of what all working Americans have in common.

Your goals are the limit of your dreams, so dream big audacious goals. Aim low, you will likely hit even lower. Aim high… and who knows? You may just exceed even your own expectations.

Labor is a gift, a powerful blessing that can make you anything you want to be in a free society. When mediocrity is celebrated as the standard, no one succeeds. No one is inspired. Maya Angelou said, “Nothing will work unless you do.” Good advice.

When everyone gets a trophy regardless of their individual performance, we cheapen the process for those who excel. It takes resolute courage to move on to better things and in its absence, we permit mediocrity. We reward idleness, not innovation.

Oprah declared, “The big secret in life is there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you’re willing to work.”

In a mediocre society, it is closer to Marxism than it is surpassing. “From each according to his abilities and to each according to his needs,” so goes the Marxist creed.

Not the way life works, though some would have you believe they are owed a free paycheck, free college education, free medical care or a guaranteed income regardless of their contributions to the whole.

Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke eloquently when he said “No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”

If the hero who championed civil rights felt so strongly about labor, why can’t his followers and believers echo that challenge? Work is a privilege, rest is a gift.

So why do we take Labor Day off to celebrate labor itself? It is because we pause for respite. A field that is relaxed will always produce a more generous crop.

With your own labors, do you define the results by the effort? It is difficult if not impossible to produce a masterpiece in your life without great labor on your part.

I watched my beautiful wife Christine bring forth a magnificent set of twin sons 42 years ago. I witnessed as my daughter-in-law Viviana, wife of our 3rd son, also produced twin boys 5 years ago. That is true labor that no man will ever quite understand nor fully appreciate.

Mother Teresa might have said it best: “The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it.”

Michael Aun, CSP®, CPAE® is the author of “All I Want Out of Life Is An Unfair Advantage!”