Their Labor Honored

My mother’s father had a limp earned from a huge hunk of falling coal that pinned his leg against a machine deep underground. His arm was broken by Kentucky State Troopers during a coal strike. My Dad’s Father’s hands were so rough that it hurt when he held mine sometimes and he had a photograph of UMWA President John L. Lewis beneath a painting of Jesus in his living room.

I’m absolutely sure the mines contributed to their causes of deaths. My dad worked 7 days a week in the mines when I was a child. They always came home dirty, exhausted, sleeping whatever hours of the day were opposite their shifts. We had to be quiet as kids, to play outside. The UMWA provided a good salary and good benefits for the family. But they were always gone. I regret that.

I work sitting in an Aeron chair with three large flat screen monitors. I’m never dirty at the end of the day unless I’ve spilled my coffee. I use my brain all day but never break a sweat. I see my kids all the time. I get to make a huge number of choices about what I do each day. I choose my clients. No whistle blows.No timecard. No boss. I get excellent job satisfaction out of helping companies succeed and terrific feedback from them. It’s hard to tell where work ends and fun begins sometimes.

Yet sometimes I catch myself answering “yes” to the question “Have you been working hard?” … I’m going to try to answer that differently, “I’ve been very busy.” might work. But Grandad and Pappaw and Dad knew/know hard work.

I honor that work today

Because as a child growing up in Kentucky in the 1960s, there were few other options for attaining a middle class lifestyle without formal education. Through this achievement I was able to leave Kentucky at age 11 and attend vastly better schools of Illinois, attain my Bachelor’s degree and begin the career that led me to the lifestyle I enjoy.

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