My father drilled into my brain that there is dignity in all labor. I often chuckle when I hear the Talking Heads and right wing talk jocks declare that socialists and leftists are all looking for a free ride. My dad was a member of the Communist Party back before Truman made it a crime to belong. After that Dad was a Liberal/Progressive/Radical. My family all worked at whatever jobs needed doing. For us three children there was no such thing as "boys jobs" and "girls jobs". I washed, dried, cleared the table and swept the floors along with my two sisters. "Be sure you do a job you will be proud of", was all my dad would say.
As a visually impaired kid, I managed to figure out which end of a lawn mower was the handle, and I mowed many lawns and pulled many weeds to earn spending money. During summer vacation I picked tons of beans and strawberries, along with Pie Cherries, Raspberries, baling hay. Some of my greatest lessons in life were learned from the older laborers in the fields and in the factories.
But we live in a culture that turns up our collective noses at "Common Labor". By gosh, we're just to Middle Class for that sort of humbling. That would not do at all. It would make us "Working Class", and by golly that isn't us at all. So we "allow" illegal's to do our "dirty work" and then spit on them for their effort. A fine Howdy Do. But we have to do it in order to show the world that we are risen above the working class.
I recall, at the ripe old age of 17, a blind man coming to my door to teach me typing. I was recovering from eye surgery. "You could go to college free", he told me.
I was shocked. "My people pay their own way. We don't take handouts", I snapped. And that from a young budding Radical!
Curious Carl
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