God ordered the very first man, Adam, to engage in manual labor (Genesis 2:15). “If any man will not work,” St. Paul declared (2 Thessalonians 3:10), “neither let him eat.” Work is an honorable and necessary calling for all men and women. Unfortunately, not all Americans believe that anymore, from the parasitic politicians to the entitled woke college students.
In my first article on this topic, I looked at the tragedy of the hurricanes across the Southern U.S. and how skilled workers are helping victims rebuild and recover. I also noted that valuing such skills and honoring those who are manual laborers are both basic Christian values, as Jesus was a humble carpenter Who praised the poor and made friends of manual laborers.
Indeed, while unfortunately in practice many Christian nations’ leaders have disdained workers, still they handed down the idea that found fruition in America of the necessity of work. Today (March 21) in the old Catholic calendar, for instance, is the feast of St. Benedict, father of Western Monasticism, whose most famous phrase was his motto: “Ora et labora (Pray and work).”
Related: The Vital Importance of Skills and Manual Labor: Part I
In three words, he successfully summed up his entire life philosophy. It was so simple but so powerful a motto that it inspired thousands or even millions of others throughout history. And to a certain extent, the Founding Fathers had the same philosophy when they planned America’s future: they hoped Americans, having won liberty, would pray to God and work hard on their own property in peace.
While America also had its falling away from the ideal — most particularly with slavery — the American respect for manual labor was such a national characteristic that other nations noticed it. “Americans,” once observed the English G.K. Chesterton, “really respect work, rather as Europeans respect war. There is a halo of heroism about it; and he who shrinks from it is less than a man.” And yet somehow, perhaps because the Democrats after their Civil War loss shifted from championing slavery to instituting a new sort of political plantation and entrenched elitism, in our own day far too many Americans despise manual labor — and are proud of it.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) is only one of numerous Democrats who sneered that illegal immigration is necessary to provide workers for farming, hotel cleaning, and other tasks we “college grads” shouldn’t have to perform. It’s amazing, in fact, how Democrats in 2025 make nearly the same arguments in favor of illegal immigration that Democrats of the early 1800s made in favor of slavery.
But even some conservatives fall into the trap of elitism. There is, of course, nothing wrong with getting a college degree (if it’s not a woke propaganda course) and taking a white-collar job, which can be useful to society too. But those who do so shouldn’t have an attitude of being somehow superior to waiters, construction workers, and all the other workers who make our nation run. We require college degrees, in fact, for jobs that were actually performed much better back when degrees weren’t required — in journalism, for instance.
Some conservatives seem to take it for granted that criminals like Joe Biden and Ilhan Omar must face absolutely no arrests or jail time simply because they managed to get themselves elected and have a political title now. Since when did Americans want a titled aristocracy?
Booker T. Washington had it right when he required his students to learn brick-laying, sewing, and carpentry alongside math and history. Even professors and lawyers might need to fix the sink or mend a shirt, and America certainly needs more skilled laborers. Our great buildings and monuments, our infrastructure and manufacturing used to be the marvel of the world. Now we ship it all overseas. That’s unacceptable and suicidal. We’re in crying need of both artistic and practical skills.
We need a Tuskegee Institute-style revival in education across the country. As parents take back school boards and form new educational organizations, this should be a priority. And encourage young people you know to consider skilled trades and manual labor not as “settling” or “failure” or “painful,” but as honorable and necessary callings.
