41–50 of 98 posts
> The Man in Black grew up in Dyess, Arkansas, in a community of poor farmers working government land. Similar. I grew up in Arkansas for 6 years of my childhood working on a turkey farm until I was 11~. Hard work ,7 days a week for 6 years working with turkeys and cattle. Something is lost today by most kids being removed from hard work, I think. Defiantly brings a different perspective going from that to working in…
the children yearn for the mines
> The Man in Black grew up in Dyess, Arkansas, in a community of poor farmers working government land. Similar. I grew up in Arkansas for 6 years of my childhood working on a turkey farm until I was 11~. Hard work ,7 days a week for 6 years working with turkeys and cattle. Something is lost today by most kids being removed from hard work, I think. Defiantly brings a different perspective going from that to working in…
> Something is lost today by most kids being removed from hard work, I think. I'm not sure I agree. The work was hard and you didn't get anywhere . You worked the farm, the mill, the mine, etc. just like your father did and his father did. You didn't get rich. You didn't even get comfortable. You were still poor, and your children were going to remain poor. The window where labor unions made mill, mine, and factory j…
> The Man in Black grew up in Dyess, Arkansas, in a community of poor farmers working government land. Similar. I grew up in Arkansas for 6 years of my childhood working on a turkey farm until I was 11~. Hard work ,7 days a week for 6 years working with turkeys and cattle. Something is lost today by most kids being removed from hard work, I think. Defiantly brings a different perspective going from that to working in…
My mom grew up in Appalachia, in the same time as Johnny Cash, dirt farmers in a "holler". No indoor electric, plumbing, or phone. Wood stove cooking and heat. A spring house for water. Baths every Saturday night. Their livelihood was completely dependant on growing food and lumber. I find it unimaginable. Technically I know how it worked, but it's completely alien. In one generation.
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Yup, 7 days a week with my grandfather. I'm 44 now, he's 96 and still going strong but without the farm since he got too old to run it and simply retired. But yeah, 7 days a week I'd tend to the turkeys, cattle, dig potatoes, pick tomatoes (we grew a lot of vegetables) , cut hay, rake hay, fluff hay, etc. Being 7 years old on a tractor cutting hay all day was extremely fun. We'd also make the square bales of hay and…
Thanks, sounds different and would certainly instill a certain work ethic. I'm similar age and have been in paid employment since the age of 13, a lot of different things through farming, manufacturing, retail and catering before I started in tech. I was always grateful for the work ethic but also important was the experience of being the most lowly employee being made to do the grunt work. I think that gave me the c…
Modern governments actively endure that working before 18 is like chilf exploitation or something which is ridiculous as you learn much more by doing than by watching videos or reading books
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> The Man in Black grew up in Dyess, Arkansas, in a community of poor farmers working government land. Similar. I grew up in Arkansas for 6 years of my childhood working on a turkey farm until I was 11~. Hard work ,7 days a week for 6 years working with turkeys and cattle. Something is lost today by most kids being removed from hard work, I think. Defiantly brings a different perspective going from that to working in…
There are folks who turned that into habits that unlocked productivity and happiness in life. There are others who just got exploited.
To me, what's important is building the intuition for the connection between practice and achievement, which is a subtly different thing. It's not hard work for as a thing that's morally admirable. It's a means to an end.
I would add to that a sense of collective responsibility, tempered with self-assertiveness.
I think these things are the bright side of valuing "hard work", but without the dark sides of exploitation and workaholism.
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> Something is lost today by most kids being removed from hard work, I think. I'm not sure I agree. The work was hard and you didn't get anywhere . You worked the farm, the mill, the mine, etc. just like your father did and his father did. You didn't get rich. You didn't even get comfortable. You were still poor, and your children were going to remain poor. The window where labor unions made mill, mine, and factory j…
If nothing else, it should humble you and make you appreciate how lucky 'you' are now to have found and be good at one of few remaining white-collar jobs that pay well. That list of high paying jobs is shrinking rapidly, and it's pretty reasonable to think that in 20 years, software engineers are going to be the miners/mill-workers of the previous generation.
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What was lost was hard work ethic and the perspective of how good life is now, respect for others, and we've gained some arrogance from never having to suffer. I had an odd life, I lived in the projects as a child until I was sent to my grandfathers farm for 6~ years, and after that, back to the violent city I had originally lived in. I was at a huge disadvantage compared to my peers but from the hard word I was subj…
My parents infected me with the same disease -- an intense conviction in the nobility and virtue of individual hard work -- and it led me to a terrible place, the physical sciences, where I received a harsh lesson in the nature of capitalism. It's not about creating value, it's about capturing value. In a low-leverage situation, when everyone works hard you are simply paid less. Surplus is captured through ownership…
I grew up in a restaurant, but my main lesson from it was that I didn't want to be forced to do that kind of work. People have praised me for my work ethic, but I'm not sure it came from doing anything at the restaurant, it came from NOT wanting to do anything at the restaurant.
> The Man in Black grew up in Dyess, Arkansas, in a community of poor farmers working government land. Similar. I grew up in Arkansas for 6 years of my childhood working on a turkey farm until I was 11~. Hard work ,7 days a week for 6 years working with turkeys and cattle. Something is lost today by most kids being removed from hard work, I think. Defiantly brings a different perspective going from that to working in…
My childhood was spent on a farm, we all worked or we didn't eat. It was fucking miserable. I wouldn't wish that on anyone who doesn't want it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What was lost was hard work ethic and the perspective of how good life is now, respect for others, and we've gained some arrogance from never having to suffer. I had an odd life, I lived in the projects as a child until I was sent to my grandfathers farm for 6~ years, and after that, back to the violent city I had originally lived in. I was at a huge disadvantage compared to my peers but from the hard word I was subj…
I don't think it's hard work that has been lost but rather a connection to 'direct results' which are notably lacking from a lot of jobs.
Most people who get a desk job will not see this, in fact they will barely ever meet an end consumer (person who eventually pays VAT for example), and the money will have passed through a huge number of hands before getting into their account each month. Doing a slightly better or worse job makes no difference.