With Labor Day upon us, I’ve been thinking about what “labor” really means. Sure, it’s about work — the jobs we do to keep food on the table and roofs over our heads. But at its heart, labor is really about service. It’s the way we trade our time, our skills, and our energy to help others, and in turn, we receive what we need to survive.
In Scouting, we see this every day. A Scout helping pitch someone else’s tent, a leader giving up a weekend for camp, or even just a patrol working together to cook dinner. It’s labor, yes — but it’s also compassion in action.Labor doesn’t have to mean sweat on the brow or callouses on the hands (though sometimes it does). It can be the quiet effort of listening, the patience of teaching a skill, or the planning that makes a trip run smoothly. Every act of service is a form of labor, and every bit of labor we give strengthens the web of support that holds us together.
So, this Labor Day, maybe pause to notice the many ways Scouts — and the leaders who guide them — are already living this truth. Work as service, service as love, and all of it part of something bigger than ourselves.
Keep on Wacky Scouting,
Scott Robertson