I was having a chat with an acquaintance recently and they related an event where another person made condescending remarks about a few different occupations. This really got me fired up over the disparity that many folks see in character based on one's chosen line of work.
Just a farmer?!!!
Just a housekeeper?!!!
Next time some one uses that you could tell them it's better than being...
wait for it
...just an a-hole!
Yeah I know that's probably not showing our best side, but the idea that money or education makes you better than anyone else is ludicrous!
All it means is you spent more time in school, or have more dollars.
A persons character is difficult, nay impossible, to judge or quantify with any material standard.
I totally agree that farmers, and many others, as a group, are being ridiculously de-valued as people, and as providers who for centuries have done nothing but the tireless and endless job of providing nourishment for countless hordes of thankless people.
I mean I guess eating just isn't important anymore is it?
(GRRRRRRRRR) Now you've done it, you got me all fired up.
The most memorable event similar to what she described that I can recall wasn't directed at me and still raises my hackles when I think about it.
I was at my mother's second husband's home on a weekend visit. I've never been able to call him my step father and here's why.
My folks split up when I was about 2, and my dad had custody of us 3 boys from the git go, this happened in 1968, so we weren't exactly the "typical" household back then.
So I'm maybe 10 years old or so, and eating breakfast at their table (in his very big, very nice, lavishly furnished, blah blah blah, you get the idea, home) I don't remember what the conversation was about but it came to a point where he very derisively replied to my mom, about my dad, (right in front of me!)
"...well he probably showed up to your wedding in his coveralls..."
It was a rude and almost pointless remark that I eventually concluded was probably intended to show me "my place".
All it really did was make me lose almost all respect for the man, which is sad because he really was a pretty good guy, and did treat my mom and us kids very well, aside from his need to affirm himself by pointing out his supposed superiority to us.
Well his plan backfired, because it made me look at my dad in a new found light. I grew more and more proud of the fact the he was "just a hayseed farmboy".
I began to appreciate the fact that I could directly identify myself with people of the land.
I learned that I was lucky enough to be part of a long family history, whose endeavors in the new world dated back to the late 17th century, on the same piece of ground where I grew up, who were directly responsible, like it or not, for dramatically increasing in wealth of a small colonial community. And whose hard work, thought and skill helped it become a valuable part of something much much larger than they ever dreamed.
If my father and his father are any indication, these were people unafraid of hard work, unacquainted with guile or deceit, who neither looked up nor down at anyone, but could, without arrogance, look anyone in the eye and feel no shame.
Now when I think about the trades, and the rich history each and every trade has built upon for generation after generation, I think of how hard it is to be "just a farmer" or "just a" housekeeper, plumber, mechanic, welder, or any one of the countless invisible people who find their place in a harsh world and add their labors to help our society function. I can't help but feel a sense of awe and gratitude to God, or providence, or karma, or whatever term you want to name the dumb luck that brought me to this place and time.
How dare anyone label another as "just" anything!
For crying out loud we're all "just" people and none, absolutely none, is better than another simply because of a job title.
The early 18th century home my family built, ca. 1950. This will always be my home, no matter where I live
Just a housekeeper?!!!
Next time some one uses that you could tell them it's better than being...
wait for it
...just an a-hole!
Yeah I know that's probably not showing our best side, but the idea that money or education makes you better than anyone else is ludicrous!
All it means is you spent more time in school, or have more dollars.
A persons character is difficult, nay impossible, to judge or quantify with any material standard.
I totally agree that farmers, and many others, as a group, are being ridiculously de-valued as people, and as providers who for centuries have done nothing but the tireless and endless job of providing nourishment for countless hordes of thankless people.
I mean I guess eating just isn't important anymore is it?
(GRRRRRRRRR) Now you've done it, you got me all fired up.
The most memorable event similar to what she described that I can recall wasn't directed at me and still raises my hackles when I think about it.
I was at my mother's second husband's home on a weekend visit. I've never been able to call him my step father and here's why.
My folks split up when I was about 2, and my dad had custody of us 3 boys from the git go, this happened in 1968, so we weren't exactly the "typical" household back then.
So I'm maybe 10 years old or so, and eating breakfast at their table (in his very big, very nice, lavishly furnished, blah blah blah, you get the idea, home) I don't remember what the conversation was about but it came to a point where he very derisively replied to my mom, about my dad, (right in front of me!)
"...well he probably showed up to your wedding in his coveralls..."
It was a rude and almost pointless remark that I eventually concluded was probably intended to show me "my place".
All it really did was make me lose almost all respect for the man, which is sad because he really was a pretty good guy, and did treat my mom and us kids very well, aside from his need to affirm himself by pointing out his supposed superiority to us.
Well his plan backfired, because it made me look at my dad in a new found light. I grew more and more proud of the fact the he was "just a hayseed farmboy".
I began to appreciate the fact that I could directly identify myself with people of the land.
I learned that I was lucky enough to be part of a long family history, whose endeavors in the new world dated back to the late 17th century, on the same piece of ground where I grew up, who were directly responsible, like it or not, for dramatically increasing in wealth of a small colonial community. And whose hard work, thought and skill helped it become a valuable part of something much much larger than they ever dreamed.
If my father and his father are any indication, these were people unafraid of hard work, unacquainted with guile or deceit, who neither looked up nor down at anyone, but could, without arrogance, look anyone in the eye and feel no shame.
Now when I think about the trades, and the rich history each and every trade has built upon for generation after generation, I think of how hard it is to be "just a farmer" or "just a" housekeeper, plumber, mechanic, welder, or any one of the countless invisible people who find their place in a harsh world and add their labors to help our society function. I can't help but feel a sense of awe and gratitude to God, or providence, or karma, or whatever term you want to name the dumb luck that brought me to this place and time.
How dare anyone label another as "just" anything!
For crying out loud we're all "just" people and none, absolutely none, is better than another simply because of a job title.
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