Labor Day is here, a day set aside to celebrate the people whose work makes up the very fabric of our society.

And, yes, that connection is part of the reason I chose the name America’s Fabric.

We are the people who built the world we live in.

So often, history remembers the people who had the grand ideas, created the plans, or stood at the front of the room. We put their names on buildings, write books about them, and celebrate their accomplishments.

But what about the people who actually made those plans happen?

The people who built the buildings, paved the roads, taught the children, cared for the sick, kept the businesses running, delivered the goods, answered the phones, grew the food, maintained the systems, and performed the countless other jobs that keep our communities moving every single day?

Without them, without us, all those grand plans would remain nothing more than ideas on a piece of paper.

That is the part of our American story I find so compelling. There are millions upon millions of people whose names may never appear in a history book, yet their work has shaped the country we inherited and the communities we live in today.

There are so many of these stories that, sadly, we often fail to tell any of them.

For much of my life, Labor Day was simply a three-day weekend, an opportunity to go somewhere, gather with friends and family, and enjoy an extra day off. There is certainly nothing wrong with that. In its own way, enjoying the fruits of our labor is part of the celebration.

But the history behind the day deserves to be remembered as well.

The first Labor Day celebration is generally traced to September 5, 1882, when thousands of workers took unpaid time off and marched through the streets of New York City. Oregon became the first state to officially recognize Labor Day as a holiday in 1887, and in 1894 it became a federal holiday.

Even the question of who first proposed Labor Day reminds us how easily the stories of working people can become blurred with time. Historians have debated whether the idea originated with Peter J. McGuire or Matthew Maguire.

Maybe there is something rather fitting about that.

Labor Day was never supposed to be about one person.

It is about all of us.

It is about generations of people who got up every morning, went to work, raised families, built communities, solved problems, created things, cared for one another, and often without recognition, helped build America.

So today, enjoy the cookout. Enjoy the extra day off. Enjoy time with family and friends.

But also take a moment to look at the people around you, and perhaps even look in the mirror, and tell yourself:

Job well done.

Because America isn’t built only by the people with the grand plans.

America is built by the people who make those plans happen.

And together, we are America’s Fabric.

Happy Labor Day!