Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
If you’ve ever worked in a mill, this song is one you’d understand. When I hear the Beltway guys in fancy suits and $400.00 haircuts who have the best medical benefits in the free world argue the proper retirement age, I always think about some guy who works in the mill, on a roof, or in the cardboard box factory.
If the retirement age is changed it doesn’t make any difference to the lawmakers, and doesn’t affect a guy like me who works in the AC much either. But I’ve worked some of those jobs before I became a doc, and I never forgot.
Try a season on the asphalt paving crew. Hot, tired, sunburned; by the end of the summer you pray for rain so you can go home. You cash your paycheck at week’s end and stick it in your pocket, ’cause you know it’ll all be gone by Thursday. It’s not enough pay to do much more than subsist. It’s hard to pursue grace and dignity if you have to pursue survival.
Come fall back then some of the kids would complain Organic Chemistry was hard, and I’d always smile and say, “No it’s not.”
So in the debate about retirement age, I hope they keep the cat in mind who has to crawl around under a house to make a living. By the time he’s my age his back won’t let him do it. If he’s made it that far without turning to crime to survive, or worse yet quit being productive altogether and somehow become a celebrity (famous and rich for doing nothing) then let the guy rest. I think he’s earned his trip to the beach to play with grandchildren far more than the lawmakers have.
Dr. B
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September 15, 2010 at 9:48 am
Dr. B.,
My dad worked in a mill long ago and is currently on the road crew doing asphalt in the summer and driving snowplow in winter. All jobs took their toll on his body and allowed me to see what real hard work was like.
Great post!
Christi Corbett
http://christicorbett.wordpress.com
September 15, 2010 at 11:04 am
Christi,
Bless your Dad’s heart. Guys like that are my heroes.
Dr. B
September 15, 2010 at 9:54 am
You are so right…
September 15, 2010 at 11:05 am
Granny Pam,
Hey good to hear from you; hope to meet ya at IBMA.
Dr. B
September 15, 2010 at 7:17 pm
I like that, Tom! So true!
September 15, 2010 at 7:37 pm
Thanks Babs. -Dr. B
September 16, 2010 at 7:40 am
Thanks for saying that, Doc. Watch if they remove congressmen and women from getting pensions after 8 or 10 years of service after retirement or defeat.
September 16, 2010 at 8:52 am
Dan,
Amen, brother. So true.
Dr. B
September 19, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Big issue here in the UK. Default retirement age is 65, although up till now people could opt to retire earlier – 60, perhaps, or in some cases earlier, usually on a reduced pension. But now the powers that be are saying that this is no longer affordable, and people will have to work till 70 or some similar age before they can retire and get their well-earned pension. Doesn’t affect people such as the top-level bankers who got us into our present financial difficulties – they still get their huge salaries and bonuses, and can afford to pack it in early. But it does affect guys like the one you mention who crawls under houses to earn a subsistence living. Something gone seriously wrong somewhere, surely.
September 19, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Martin,
I agree. I think modern society doesn’t show near enough respect for people who work for a living.
Dr. B