Monday, Sept. 7 is Labor Day.

It’s an annual tribute to the contributions workers have made in building this country and sustaining its prosperity.

Our community understands what that means. America was built — literally — on the backs of our ancestors whose unpaid labor has provided a legacy of wealth for scores of individuals and families and propelled our nation and economy to its exalted position.

Today, about 148 million people are employed in the United States. Many of those — 6.3 million — are part-time workers, with some handling multiple jobs to pay the bills, put food on the table and care for their families.

Another 8 million are counted among the unemployed still looking for work, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

While Labor Day typically is enjoyed as a day off, for a last summer cookout, trip to the beach or riverfront, many people in Richmond and across the country will be reporting to retail, service and health care jobs.

Despite the weariness, work is love made visible, according to the poets. We spend most of our waking hours working, with nearly four in 10 U.S. workers reporting that they spend 50-plus hours a week on the job.

Our work should be something we love.

It also should be respected with a living wage and benefits that give each of us the dignity and ability to provide for ourselves and our families.

And what is it to work with love?

Kahlil Gibran answers:

“It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.

“It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.

“It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.

“It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit …”

“… For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man’s hunger.

“And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distills a poison in the wine.

“And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man’s ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.”

To all who rise each day or evening and head out to a job or jobs, we salute you.

Enjoy your work.

Enjoy Labor Day.