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January 2009 
Ha Long Bay Tour
Posted on Jun 18th, 2007
by 
L'el
L'el
Ha Long Bay
A short clip...
Access: PublicUncle Brad and "The dignity of manual labor."
Posted on Jun 25th, 2007
by L'el
L'el
Here's a personal anecdote from my Uncle Brad, who is a potter in Idaho:
[There was] an essay I wrote in college called "The dignity of manual labor." The main point of the essay was that manual labor is better than white collar work, because it allows you to think anything you want as you do it, whereas white collar work requires your brain. I got the essay back with a passing grade, but the religion professor that read it also wrote on it "Bullshit" in red, no other comments. Not seeking an argument, I never discussed it with him, but I always thought that if that he couldn't respond more eloquently than that, I must have hit close to a nerve for him. I imagined him thinking, "He's wrong, but here I am sitting reading this bullshit, while if I were working hoeing a field, I could be thinking whatever I wanted, which means he was right, but he's wrong..." In the end I got the job I wanted, complete with manual labor.
[There was] an essay I wrote in college called "The dignity of manual labor." The main point of the essay was that manual labor is better than white collar work, because it allows you to think anything you want as you do it, whereas white collar work requires your brain. I got the essay back with a passing grade, but the religion professor that read it also wrote on it "Bullshit" in red, no other comments. Not seeking an argument, I never discussed it with him, but I always thought that if that he couldn't respond more eloquently than that, I must have hit close to a nerve for him. I imagined him thinking, "He's wrong, but here I am sitting reading this bullshit, while if I were working hoeing a field, I could be thinking whatever I wanted, which means he was right, but he's wrong..." In the end I got the job I wanted, complete with manual labor.
