The Man on The Crane

As I was eating at a local restaurant I noticed a picture on the wall.  It was a picture of a man holding on to a crane being lifted high above New York City while building the Chrysler Tower.  He must have been hundreds of stories high.  No harness, no hard hat (which is pointless at that height anyway).  Just overalls and shoddy work boots.  He was holding on with simpy his own two hands which were attached to arms which resembled tree trunks. I was absolutely spellbound by that picture.  I couldn’t take my eyes off it.  What makes a man do that? He must have had the knowledge that one gust of wind or slip of the hand would mean death. They didn’t have the same benefits for their families left behind back then (if any at all).  Why risk it all for a job?

That is where I started doing real thinking.  Is this what made our North American culture so great?  That we had people like that who would risk their lives just to put food on the table? Would we do that today?  It is obviously illegal now to do anything close to that but there are countries where I am sure stuff like that happens.  Are they going to be the next superpower?  Have we come to a point where we would never even consider doing that in order to provide for our families.  I’m sure this guy never heard of a bow flex or 6 pack abs or carbs yet he looked to be as powerful as any athlete around today.  How many of them were there?  How many men did these things and went home at the end of the day just thinking “another day, another dollar” and get up to do it all over again the next day?  No medals, no press conferences, no multi million dollar contracts.  Just life.

In my opinion, this is the reason why the North American civilization will end quicker than we think.  We have people in this world who will do these things for nothing other than an honest paycheck at the end of the day.  While we are busy getting our 6 pack abs, fighting lawsuits, calling unnecessary expensive elections and trying to save the environment these cultures are coming at us like a freight train.  In my opinion we cannot stop this.  It will end the only way it can end.  With the North American culture at the mercy of another people who want to work.  Who want to get things done and want our wy of life for themselves.  History is full of this happening and there is nothing we can do at this point. We won’t learn until it happens. Unions will fall, our government will fall and we have no one to blame but ourselves. 

We don’t even like to have children because it interferes with our lifestyle too much.  While we are going on our trips and watching HD TV our population is dwindling and our economy is faltering. 

What is the plus? Here it is. I know people who want to do things.  Who want to work but are blocked by the old boy network where people are paid for what they do and what they are worth. These people will be the ones who save us but it won’t happen until there is a disaster which is coming. As with most problems in this world, this one will take care of itself.  It will be painful but we will be left with a much stronger, ethical and productive society than we have now.