There’s a forgotten neighborhood in Newburyport until the city heard the worst: old substructure bleeding water into homes and streets and residents maintaining sump pumps 24/7, year-round. Happily much has been done thanks to a project that residents must feel akin to the Big Dig in Boston.
From a perch at one corner, I’ve seen amazing examples of pro teamwork. Such earthworks fascinate from childhood, oversized vehicles doing amazing things; but as adults we seldom take time to see and dwell on what it takes to do such things.
Workers also deal with the unexpected, implants in soil and under streets sometimes dating to the late 1800s. But these gentry are undeterred. They good-naturedly field questions from onlookers but without wasting time; after all, these are our tax dollars at work, and they know it.
That’s why I’m saddened by our unofficial but very real caste system, false inequities as to whose work is more important. So few get most of the wealth and the rest compete for what’s left. Some folks think less of hard hats and others who do physical work, though such is hardly the truth of it. I’d like to see CEOs handle the big rigs that wield huge metal scoops with the delicacy of true expertise and remove hard surfaces and rocky ground to make geometric pits for other workers to address both expected and unforeseen problems – all while directing and dodging traffic that resents the inconvenience. After all, these guys are “only” hard hats.
Other people deliver our newspapers starting not long after we go to bed, so that the news is ready for our first blink into a new day. Others retrieve trash and compost. They aren’t paid what they deserve and it is here that I introduce the concept of “willing and able.” There are things we suppose that anybody can do, so they are able. They also must be willing, but they may be tasks that are deemed unworthy of our doing. Then certain unions help us to realize otherwise–like garbage and trash, i.e., sanitation, once thought to be work not worth paying much for.
Such workers cheekily went on strike while the world thought, “They wouldn’t dare!” since sanitation was considered unimportant. So workers left the garbage in the streets and suddenly we realized picking it up was more important than we thought. The rest is history, though related struggles go on.
In earlier history, first issues had to do with water–where most lived and great cities grew. But they became hydraulic despotisms. Smart people came up with great ideas to build and thrive among the opportunities. Others were made to do the work for little or nothing, resulting in the first urban slums. The smart ones co-opted two other classes of people to make this work: religious leaders to teach that it was the will of the gods; and warriors to make sure that those who objected would do so anyway.
They were the priests, or clergy; and the police, or enforcers. This arrangement exists even today. Religion keeps the peace by urging us to honor Caesar more than God. Law enforcement ensures that outcome. In another life, when called upon to give public prayers, I quoted the Prophets who spoke of “selling the poor for a pair of shoes,” and other troublesome scriptures. This ensured I would not be invited to do so again, which suited me just fine.
There is a place for those who teach good morals and ethics; and for those who keep us safe from a world that is at best bittersweet. But no few clergy on public occasions kiss up to powers that be and merely cater to the occasion. And how often do we find that law enforcement is brutally inhumane—regardless of public outcries?
Life’s toil is done by those who not only are able but willing. And that’s worth something. It all works to ensure order, give cause for happiness, and keep our own garbage from burying us.
We dislike unions from what we are told, or because we think we are better than other people; and we forget that the world of suits and CEOs (remember Enron, et al?) and corporate culture is its own ugly mess. I know it, I have seen it, and it’s plug-ugly.
So if willing, are we able? If able, are we willing? It comes down to that. And all deserve a piece of the pie. The smart guys long ago who could dream big dreams couldn’t have done diddly-squat without someone to do the work. But they left the latter poor and compliant. Religion and enforcement made sure of that.
Today, we’re backward, not forward, thinkers. But it’s better, when able, to be compensated for our willingness, not forced into it.
John Burciaga is a crusty old crank who lives in Newburyport and greets all saying, “Get off my lawn!” even when not at his own home. Tell him a thing or two at Ichabod’s Kin on wordpress.com