This blog was created for the purpose of talking about working folk and stereotypes and descrimination and whatever else pops into my mind. It was born over a month ago and I havn't written a damn thing because..............of work. That might be one of the biggest reasons why we don't see more of a contribution to the arts and sciences by the working class, because they're too busy putting food on the table and taking care of their families to be working on the unified theory of physics. We must be careful not to judge a persons level of intelligence on the type of work they are engaged in. You really don't know why a person does what he/she does for a living. Somestimes it isn't always about money or status.
A person that I love and respect very much, made a comment in a recent Christmas letter referring to the people of a nearby farming community as "wearing bluejeans and baseball hats and saying"diesel"and similar things". I was surprised by the naivety of the statement because she is a very intelligent and traveled person and maybe that's some of my own stereotyping showing itself, but honestly I've known many a farmer over the years including my dear departed Uncle Fred and I've never heard a one of them say the word "diesel" unless they were at a filling station. Uncle Fred was one of the smartest men I've ever known, wise in a way that is disappearing from humankind as we as a species drift farther and farther away from nature and how the world really works.
Sometimes when I try to talk to her about my mother I feel as though she is disregarding me because I'm not in the medical profession as she is. When I question her about certain medical dogma it is not out of disrespect for her or her achievments, but from a true desire to understand the world around me, and in this case to help my mother. But yet I get this feeling that she doesn't think me worthy of the discussion. I don't pretend to know the things that she knows, it's not my specialty. My specialty is woodworking, metalworking, plastics fabrication, welding, drafting, estimating,sales, sweeping the floor and driving the truck. When I get up in the morning I read the newspaper, Anti-war.com on the net and Woods lot, when I sit down to take a crap I read Scientific American. My favorite tv shows are Nova, Now and Frontline. I've learned so much from other people and most of them were working class. I've known so many others, people like doctors or engineers that I've learned virtually nothing from because they somehow don't care to share what they know with someone who is obviosly not one of them. Is it because I don't have that degree? How would they know? Because I drive a truck? Because I wear a t-shirt and jeans?