One of the lessons of the horrible tragedy of the hurricanes that devastated southern U.S. states is the value of having handyman skills, rather than having to wait for the government and the “experts” to come to your aid.
There are many Americans who can fix their plumbing, build their own decks, and cook multi-course dinners, but unfortunately these skills are not as widespread as they used to be, most especially in my generation (Gen Z). In some areas, it is difficult to find skilled craftsmen and technical tradesmen. That’s very unfortunate, and even, if it goes far enough, very damaging to society.
To condense this down to a specific and easily understood example, the unfortunate hurricane victims found that the corrupt FEMA government bureaucrats either abandoned them in the middle of winter or actively confiscated aid or interfered with aid efforts, after squandering $1 billion+ on illegal aliens. And when Amish volunteers came to build tiny temporary homes for hurricane victims, state and local authorities reportedly kicked the victims out of the cabins, alleging the cabins didn’t “pass code”!
But fortunately not every family was forced out of their Amish cabin or home repaired by Amish volunteers, which is excellent news, since some North Carolina families were at one point tent camping in the snow. Kim Gill, a North Carolina resident, was praising 30 Pennsylvania Amish carpenters who rebuilt her home in a single day. A local man who helped the Amish said that the latter could build a roof for someone in mere hours, and it’s not because that’s shoddy work.
The reason I highlight this is because it illustrates the wonderful value of having real-life skills, especially in a crisis but even in ordinary life. I am obviously not making any critiques of the hurricane victims, many of whom had the skills to rebuild but not the tools or resources just after the hurricanes hit (one has to have materials and equipment to work with). Rather, I am highlighting the value of the skills displayed both by the Amish and the locals in rebuilding. And also, I’m observing much more generally that it is true that in America today, culturally, there is less of a respect and value for manual labor than ever before.
The Founding Fathers, even those from privileged backgrounds, hoped to see a nation of citizens who could both read the Western classics intelligently and do manual labor skillfully. The Booker T. Washington model of education, requiring students to learn trades such as brick-laying and sewing while earning a degree, is perhaps the most famous instance of this idea. George Washington, the victorious general and first U.S. president, still preferred one occupation to either of those powerful roles: “I had rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world,” he said.
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Since Jesus was born and lived most of his life a poor carpenter, whose closest friends were mostly fisherman and laborers, it might be assumed that Christian nations would honor laborers instead of despising them, but while that was true in theory it did not really occur in practice until the U.S. was founded. At last a nation truly tried to implement the Christian ethos, honoring work of all sorts, the carpenter and the silversmith as much as the merchant and the doctor.
Check back on PJ Media for part II, and please share your thoughts in the comments!
