The American Spirit

As a teacher, and mother of two teenagers, personally Labor Day signifies the end of summer and beginning of a new school year. Good bye days at the beach, hello school routine and football season.


Truly though, Labor Day was intended to celebrate the American worker. A day dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers.


What does that mean for us, where we are today?


Our nation has the opportunity to choose...


Will we curl up in a ball of despair? Will we regroup and rebuild?


We've all grown up knowing the "American Spirit" is one that is grounded in the belief that we can “pull ourselves up by the boot strap.”  We want to believe it, but both complacency and living in a state of economic panic can blind us to the real choices available to move forward, each step in the direction we intend.


How can we support that American Spirit? Let's be diligent in our purchasing choices. I've found a few places to start. You'll find a link below as a starting point that can help you find "made in America" purchasing options.


http://usamade.wordpress.com/

Think you already purchase a great deal that's made in America? Check out this series...

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/made-america-domestically-made-furniture-appliances-cost-imported/story?id=13049571

Remembering that an important focus of this blog is to highlight how we can support each other, I've also found that some states are generating links to opportunities for supporting in-state business, you'll find 2 such sites through the links below.

http://www.buymichiganproducts.com/

http://www.buymichigannow.com/

Finally, my heart will always believe that we should make choices to do what's right because it's right. In any number of areas in our lives, we all fall short of this from time to time, poor judgment, lack of focus or incomplete information are some of the factors that can influence a poor decision.  However, the intent of this blog will always be to direct readers to positive choices.

Choices that to the best of my current knowledge, are socially responsible, including supporting the America worker both locally and nationally as well as encouraging the Fair Trade relationships internationally.  It's amazing to me that we have stumbled into an era where most of us have not considered where our purchases have come from or who are the true beneficiaries.  As a nation built upon the belief in being rewarded for hard work done with integrity, it seems that we have slipped away from recognizing our own purchasing power. We cannot go back, but we can begin today to make deliberate choices about what and where we buy, changing the momentum toward the direction that brings positive change.  

So easily we can move forward and choice by choice support the "American Spirit".

Happy Labor Day.