I have long been a fan of this Billy Joe Shaver song. Since my Grandfather's passing, however, I have been thinking about it a lot in terms of the current attitude towards those who do manual labor for a living by what seems like the majority in western culture. I won't make any comment beyond that for now. Just listen to the song and reflect on attitudes. What is yours? What are those of the people around you? Does it matter? Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.
Great song.
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing about ancient wisdoms is that people always forget them.... until they're forced to relearn them the hard way. Often, even, the REALLY hard way. The relearning of why its good to produce something of real value, to make things, is right upon us IMHO.
We're going to pay dearly for not remembering that a man's character shows in the doing and not in the clothes, the money, the power, or any damn other thing.
What do a tramp on the street and a hardworkin' man have in common? They dont give a shit about appearances and success, but about what is Good.
There are so many things to love about his song. However, the one that stands out to me is the idea that, regardless of your low opinion of me, when the job needs to be done you can count on me to do it.
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