A Salute to The Blue Collar

A salute to the blue collar workers.

This generation, my current generation, are full of themselves. They believe that they are too good for certain jobs: that everything is below them unless it’s a job that they want. When they do not get the job they so desire they then do nothing. They sit in limbo and complain about not having a job or that someone else stole that job from them instead of accepting that they were just not as qualified as that person.

This generation, my generation, are selfish and entitled people who think they deserve anything and everything in this world. They, in most cases, were raised in white collar homes. Raised in well-to do homes where money was never an issue, and they got whatever they wanted with little understanding of how much work went into those gifts.

This generation, my generation, do not understand the meaning of hard work. The meaning of a good day’s work. The feeling of accomplishment when one looks at a paycheck, and realizes how much hard work, blood and sweat went into earning that money. It is sad when you really think about it; sad for the path that this generation is taking.

This is a salute to those blue collar workers. A salute and a thank you to those who do not get the proper recognition that they deserve. A salute to those whose jobs are thankless jobs. A salute to those who get used as an example of why kids should stay in school and go to college so they don’t have to do that work (that my friends is a low blow). This is a salute to the landscapers, electricians, construction workers, plumbers, factory workers, truck drivers, ranch hands, farmers, coal workers, fisherman workers, city cleaners, the midnight office cleaners and janitors and many other jobs that go unnoticed.

I want to thank you all: what you do is noticeable. What you all do is important in its own way that the general public and the selfish generation fail to realize or even take time to understand and notice. This thank you comes from a fellow blue collar worker, a former landscaper, a former snowplow driver, a former waiter, and I thank you all because I know what it is like to not even get a thank you. I know I am not the only one who takes notice of your hard work. Do not be discouraged, do not feel that what you do is a waste. I am telling you all that everything you do is important and to continue to do so, knowing that I and many others take notice of your hard work.

Finally I apologize for any of you who have ever overheard an adult say to a child, “that’s why you stay in school and will go to college.” One of the most degrading and ignorant statements for a person to ever utter out of their lips. To you all, I say brush this statement off. Ignore it because life is too short to deal with people like that in your life. Do what you have to do in order to do what you want later.