Army Bob: I repeat — all work is honorable, necessary

Going on a drive down memory lane, I remember a radio program featuring a guy named Paul Harvey, called “That’s the Way It Was.” The program was part mystery, part history, with some humor. The Armed Forces Radio Network carried it worldwide.

Strangely Mr. Harvey was always a bit of home, no matter what God-forsaken place we were in, his five-minute program always brought us a bit of America. Young, raucous soldiers full of piss and vinegar would stand in silence listening whenever his program was on.

Mr. Harvey’s real name was Paul Aurandt. He was a cop’s son from Oklahoma, and his dad was killed when he was a young man. He brought his strong sense of love of country and his strong love of history to his program six days a week. I was surprised in researching this column that contemporary history is calling him a radical right wing radio personality, according to National Public Radio (NPR) anyway.

Mr. Harvey, his wife Lynne and later their son Paul Jr. wrote most of his essays. His career spanned three decades and his program was contracted to ABC radio.

Enter a new Mr. Paul Harvey on the net with a program called “The Way I Heard It” with Mr. Mike Rowe of the TV program, Dirty Jobs fame. Mr. Rowe does a five-minute essay that has a bit more humor and a bit less history, but he makes no apologies for modeling his program after Mr. Harvey’s.

Mr. Rowe is well known for his support for what are called blue collar workers; his philosophy is that it is a noble thing to work and it is better to have a good paying job as a welder than to be an unemployed person living in your parents’ basement with an advanced degree in gender studies. A politically incorrect but true statement. His mikeroweWORKS Foundation helps individuals train for jobs that actually exist.

We as a nation have lost millions of manufacturing jobs, most going offshore. President Donald Trump has based his presidency on bring back good solid manufacturing jobs, let’s hope he is successful. The real question to ask is do we as a nation want to work for a living?

Years ago I wrote that all honest work is noble work and there are no unimportant jobs, and it was the most criticized column I have written. We are telling our young you must go to college or you will end up collecting garbage, so what is wrong with collecting garbage? Uncollected garbage is a public health hazard with vermin carrying disease the result. Smell, sight and pollution hazards would be widespread without the garbage collectors, who provide a public health service protecting us all.

As a child in Marina, Calif., just outside of Fort Ord, I was in the fifth grade. Our teacher called us to the window, and outside men were building an addition to our school. The teacher pointed to the men and said, “Look at them — if you do not study hard you will end up like them.” Exactly what is so wrong with building a school? Building things is a monument to a person’s skill and a historically honorable profession.

Somehow, we have lost respect for folks who make things, folks who build things. Working for minimum wage is called demeaning; being on public assistance is a more principled status than flipping burgers according to progressive doctrine.

Mike Rowe has established training facilities to prepare Americans for actual jobs, for employment, for honest honorable work, where the piece of paper they receive is a paycheck, and not a useless doctorate degree in gender studies. His essays can be found by Googling his name.

I will make no apologies in referring to all who work for a living good solid Americans. Those among us who build things, grow things, make things and fix things deserve our respect.