My name is Lyn, and I’m a workaholic. So were my parents, and most of the neighbors I grew up around. You never saw them sitting down except at meals or a social event. That example has caused some trouble in my life, but it has a positive side. Most character defects are simply assets that are carried to extremes.
I learned to work early. By the age of eight, I was checking pastures for my dad in summer, feeding the chickens, gathering eggs, and wrangling the milk cows. I took over the family ironing chore (people actually ironed clothing back then) shortly after that. I was sat down to the churning even earlier, but that wasn’t so successful. I was born impatient, and generally lollygagged until the cream was too warm, and had to be chilled again. If I could have walked around with the churn instead of sitting, it may have been different, but Mom gave up and took that over herself.
My spouse and I taught our kids to work too, and they are all conscientious workers. We forgot to teach them to play though, and they have had a hard time learning to do that as adults.
Some have done better about it than others, and I can’t say my education in the recreation department will ever be complete. A couple of days of vacation has me restless, and wondering how behind I’m gonna be when we return. I do pretty well as long as we are moving, sightseeing and such, but a week at the beach sounds like cruel and unusual punishment to these ears.
That being said, I was totally shocked when a congresswoman proposed paying people who are unable, or unwilling, to work. Unable is one thing—of course you’d want to help those folks every way possible—but unwilling? Are there really adults who have no concept of the satisfaction of a job well done, a challenge met, or an experiment that turned out well?
Apparently so, and I blame the people at the top who keep giving away taxpayer dollars in the name of covid relief. There’s a difference between not being able to find a job and refusing to take one that’s offered because the government is handing out free money. I know of more than one case where a person walked into a business and asked the manager to sign off that they had applied for a job and been turned down.
“Oh, you want a job, the manager asked? Fill out this application and I’ll set up an interview.”
“Would you really hire me?”
“Let’s see how the interview goes, but pretty likely.”
The person picked up his/her piece of paper and walked out the door.
How many businesses have you noticed that have signs saying they are hiring? At least 90 percent, wherever I go. How many businesses have closed because they can’t get help at any price? How many times have you tried to purchase something and been told it’s unavailable because the factory can’t find help, or there is a transportation issue?
A sign on a business in Valentine says, “Everybody is hiring. FYI”
The news gleefully reports that unemployment is down. Easy to see why that is. No one is looking for work, and the fallout is killing our economy. I hope those who depend on the government to support them are aware that free anything always comes with strings attached.