No household crisis gets your attention quite like a plumbing leak. The night I walked into our kitchen and realized I was standing in a puddle large enough to float a kayak, I screamed for my husband.
We’re more fortunate than many; one of our old friends is a retired master plumber. After soaking up standing water with old towels, two adults, with framed college diplomas hanging on the wall, did what we always do in the face of a plumbing emergency. Minutes later, Charlie and his tools came to our rescue.
I thought about our ‘plumbing disaster’ the night I watched President Obama address the nation’s school children. Despite one’s politics, it was an inspirational speech with excellent advice for every child.
Unfortunately, the success stories our president shared almost always concluded in a college education — as though success is defined by a four year college degree. Certainly, every person who truly wants a college education and has the ambition to work for it, should have the opportunity. But the reality is that not everyone has the resources or the desire to earn a four year degree. Our friend, Charlie, did not — and I, for one, am grateful! He was blessed with a mechanical aptitude — a curiosity to know how and why things work — and the ability to use a tool to get the job done.
In his next talk to students, I’d like to see President Obama address alternative options to a BA or a BS degree: the countless good trade schools, vocational technology courses, and available apprentice programs.
The next time the air conditioning goes off in the White House on a one hundred degree day, let’s see what those Harvard graduates in the Cabinet advise…
SRW’s 4-1/2 cents:
Arturo Rodriguez, President of the United Farm Workers (only the 2nd guy after Cesar Chavez), was on the Colbert Report tonight. Huh. He issued a challenge to folks saying that the reason we have and seriously NEED illegal immigrants (OK, I’m paraphrasing) is because Americans won’t do those jobs working in the fields. So – someone over there came up with the brilliant idea of creating the “Take Our Jobs” campaign. Any of we Americans that want a job and don’t want an extra illegal immigrant working in our fields can well, take a job from an illegal immigrant. Whaddya know.
Here’s what the website says: Agriculture in the United States is dependent on an immigrant workforce. Three-quarters of all crop workers working in American agriculture were born outside the United States. Last week, President Obama gave recognition of the vital role immigrant farm workers play in feeding America. Like the President we all know that deporting all undocumented farm workers would cause the collapse of the agricultural industry.
It is for this reason that the UFW has just launched the Take Our Jobs campaign. This national campaign is aimed at hiring U.S. citizens and legal residents to fill jobs that often go to undocumented farm workers. The effort spotlights the immigrant labor issue and underscores the need for reforms without which our agricultural industry could be crippled.
Interesting. I’m not happy having an illegal immigrant being 3 numbers ahead of me in the emergency room, getting into traffic accidents without insurance that I gotta pay for, not paying their fair share of taxes and me eventually maybe having to pay for welfare benefits for folks who didn’t play by the rules (as examples) but I do like lettuce, spinach and tomatos and think most of us Americans are FAR too whiny, spoiled rotten and don’t want to do that kind of hard and dirty job – at least for more than a day. (BTW – although I’m not proud of admitting this it’s a sure bet that I fall into all those categories.)
Here’s the campaign site: TAKE OUR JOBS
What do y’all think about this whole deal? Discuss it with us over in the Water Cooler.
