In 1939, in Kansas, wheat mills owners realized that women were using their sacks to make clothes for their children. The mills started using flowered fabric for their sacks so that kids would have pretty clothes and the label would wash out. (1) It was a gesture of pure kindness.

As I think about Labor Day I am grateful for stories like this. I am grateful for my own parents and grandparents who were all born on farms in Minnesota and North Dakota – before plumbing and electricity. Love, compassion, wanting better for family, creativity, and hard work are the values that delivered the wonderful lives we have today. Sometimes I think we forget how good we have it.

The best way I know to honor the hard work of those who came before us, is to live in gratitude and to offer acts of loving kindness where I can. Gratitude is not only associated with our well-being, but it also appears to have a domino effect.(2) When a person experiences gratitude they are more likely to recognize the help and later reciprocate. I wonder what would happen if we lived everyday in gratitude?

This Labor Day, I wish you gratitude.

Barbara

1. https://www.dailygood.org/story/1178/flowered-dresses-from-the-flour-mills-a-story-
of-kindness-kindness-blog/
2. https://positivepsychology.com/gratitude-
appreciation/#:~:text=Gratitude%20is%20the%20act%20of,and%20events%20come
%20to%20mind.

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