Model T fords or Mules, what would we be driving?

Ha Ha Ha! Too funny! This crowd today would have seat belts and a muffler on the mule and the Model T Ford would never make it to market! I was raised on a ranch out west and we weren't given much slack as kids until the chores were done and after every breathing thing was fed and watered. Left home and went to work on the oil rigs in Wyoming. I've worked in 5 countries since and Wyoming is a rough place to be a Roughneck. Joined the Army and they got more than their money's worth out of me. Started my own little business which incorporates all the skills and experience I've gained along the way. Like you, I did whatever it took for work to fill in the gaps along the way and holding my hand out for the Gov. to fill wasn't one of them.

We do have some damn good folks among the younger gen. and many of them have volunteered for service to their country. I LMAO when I hear things like..they have outlawed dodge ball in school because some kid got his feelings hurt, wow! Hell, we played tackle football on a gravel lot with no pads or helmet and if a fistfight broke out the teacher would finish his or her smoke before strolling over to break it up. If you didn't carry a pocket knife..yes in school..you were considered a pansy or a freak and it Never crossed our minds to pull it out and use it to settle a problem. My seventh grade teacher, Mr Logue, once caught me insulting a girl and he snatched me up by the throat and held me against the chalk board w/feet dangling and calmly proceeded to give me a lecture about conduct and respect. To this day, he's my favorite teacher. He was also the first one to praise me and give me a pat on the back when I did something right. Most teachers were that way and they had the support of the parents! I remember when they first started the BS of sending home permission slips to spank kids in school LOL my Dad got a real kick out of that one!

Good question as usual!

Amen, Someone. I can't claim to have done as many things as you, Foolosifer, but I do believe in carrying your own weight and making your own way, whilst saving for the future and possible need that you may, some day, be unable to continue. I haven't done as well as I'd like, but I have worked since I was 15, I'm now just 60.

It's all about work ethic. I have a niece who has been entirely too content to sit on her well padded ---mule for several years and, now that she's been forced to get training as a cosmetologist, she says she doesn't want to do that all her life. The end? She's back to sitting there, letting someone else support her. Again. I think instead of whining that we can't find any jobs worthy of us, we should take some of those jobs from those illegals who 'take the jobs we won't' and carry our own weight. It's the way that made America great; and we need to get back to it.

To quote Robert Heinlein: It's not the job that demeans the man, it's the man that demeans the job.

Ain't it the truth?

Wow! Y'all sound like my father!

Of course I echo everything said here. I've been busting my rump since I was 13. I had as many, if not more jobs than you and if Osama-Obama's reign turns out the way we expect, I'll happily take a job as a dishwasher or bus-boy if I can get it. (I'm a bench jeweler now and have been for 30 years).

My wife has also worked some shite jobs while going to school. We're both of the same ethic as y'all.

Youngsters these days, and some folks my age as well, have been coddled and when the shite hits the fan will be as useless as titsona boar. Maybe we should just eat 'em?

3 years ago, my son lost his DL because he got into serious trouble - twice. He refused to either walk or take the bus to get to school/work. So I drove him. For 15 months. That coupled with a lot of other attitude incidents, I finally the threw him out. Disrespectful kid. I thought I was going to kill him. When all was said and done, I think it killed me more than him to see him go. Now he is 20 and on his own and discovering just how hard it really is.

The generation we have now would never drive a Model T nor would they ride a mule. They have no respect. Their sense of entitlement is unbelievable. Partly because of parents, partly because of environmental factors.

There is another word for "mule" and anyone content to sit on it needs a fire put under it.

The jobs many once did may have gone the way of the blacksmith but the work-ethic, whether applied to quantum physics or loading 60" LCD HDTV's onto trucks, never loses its crucial, foundational importance.

...