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Working Class Hero: 40 Jobs in 40 Years (A Cautionary Tale)
October 18, 2006 "A
working
class
hero
is
something
to
be."
~
John
Lennon The
other
day,
while
working
aboard
an
And
I
was
task
oriented,
not
goal
oriented. Now
that
I'm
nearly
60
(57--recent
photo),
I
have
no
other
excuses
but
to
take
a
good,
long
look
at
myself.
As
the
philosopher
observed:
A
life
unexamined
is
not
worth
living.
So
I
stared
at
my
stubbornness
and
narrow
focus.
I
may
have
worked
hard
but
I
rarely
worked
smart.
Therein
lies
the
crux
of
the
problem,
the
flip
side
to
the
secret
of
success,
at
least
success
as
measured
from
a
money
standpoint.
Because,
in
an
age
of
wealth
manipulation
and
specialists,
one
must
specialize
in
order
to
succeed. Yet
does
happiness
lie
in
either
wealth
or
specialization?
To
become
successful,
how
much
of
oneself
must
an
individual
swallow
to
achieve
the
material
objects--new
car,
fine
home,
nice
clothes,
spending
cash
and
sizeable
nest
egg--that
most
Americans
consider
the
outward
signs
of
success?
Or
does
success
lie
in
happiness,
in
satisfaction,
in
pride
of
honest
workmanship?
Each
reader
must
answer
that
question;
I
cannot.
The
only
thing
I
do
know
for
certain
is
that
I've
had
a
helluva
lot
of
different
experiences.
The
sort
of
experiences
that,
if
a
person
continues
to
do
them
for
very
long,
become
jobs
if
not
careers,
rather
than
experiences. Careers Did
some
American
educator
invent
that
word?
Careers,
rather
than
learning
for
the
love
of
knowledge, are
the
cornerstone
of
every
school
and
university
in
Thoreau
wrote,
in
Economy:
"But
men
labor
under
a
mistake.
The
better
part
of
the
man
is
soon
plowed
into
the
soil
for
compost.
By
a
seeming
fate,
commonly
called
necessity,
they
are
employed,
as
it
says
in
an
old
book,
laying
up
treasures
which
moth
and
rust
will
corrupt
and
thieves
break
through
and
steal.
It
is
a
fool's
life,
as
they
will
find
when
they
get
to
the
end
of
it,
if
not
before." "One
may
almost
doubt
if
the
wisest
man
has
learned
anything
of
absolute
value
by
living,"
Thoreau
continued.
"Practically,
the
old
have
no
very
important
advice
to
give
the
young,
their
own
experience
has
been
so
partial,
and
their
lives
have
been
such
miserable
failures,
for
private
reasons,
as
they
must
believe;
and
it
may
be
that
they
have
some
faith
left
which
belies
that
experience,
and
they
are
only
less
young
than
they
were.
I
have
lived
some
thirty
years
on
this
planet,
and
I
have
yet
to
hear
the
first
syllable
of
valuable
or
even
earnest
advice
from
my
seniors.
They
have
told
me
nothing,
and
probably
cannot
tell
me
anything
to
the
purpose.
Here
is
life,
an
experiment
to
a
great
extent
untried
by
me;
but
it
does
not
avail
me
that
they
have
tried
it.
If
I
have
any
experience
which
I
think
valuable,
I
am
sure
to
reflect
that
this
my
Mentors
said
nothing
about." Truly,
Walden
is
filled
with
world-shattering
and
work-shattering
heresies.
Especially
here
in
this
career-oriented
world.
As
Thoreau
wrote:
"Practically,
the
old
have
no
very
important
advice
to
give
the
young,
their
own
experience
has
been
so
partial,
and
their
lives
have
been
such
miserable
failures." After
reading
that
line,
I readily
think
of
US
Representative
Mark
Foley
and
the
greater
part
of
Congress
and
how
that
remark
rings
especially
true
today.
Old
molesters
and
warmongers
(Is
there
a
difference?).
"Miserable
failures
.
.
.
no
very
important
advice
to
give
the
young,"
etc.,
etc.
By
contrast,
my
own
wealth
of
weird
experiences--40
jobs
in
40
years--seems
not
so
miserable,
although
far
less
well
paid.
I
wish
that
I
could
have
said
money
motivated
me,
but
rarely
was
that
the
case. The
following
is
an
alphabetized
list
of
those
jobs.
Some
I
worked
weeks
and
others
years.
And
some
I
continue
to
enjoy
working
today. 1.
2.
Antique
restorer |
Exclusive
to
STR