I don’t know how familiar any of my readers are with being on a working farm or just being around livestock. Here’s the short version:
You can get “unalived” or maimed out there in a heartbeat and, in at least 90% of the cases, you won’t be even missed for hours, and even when you are, people won’t know which direction to go in to look for your body.
Those of us who either grew up in the lifestyle or those crazy enough to choose it (and sometimes it is both), are fully aware of this. Of course, living in suburbia or the cities has its own dangers, but agricultural living has its own unique ones.
For example:
- Animals do “think” cognitively, they do learn and remember, they hold grudges, and they sometimes will try to “get back at” you for grievances. The problem with that is you often will have absolutely no warning whatsoever and they frequently outweigh you, are stronger than you, their reflexes are better than yours, and they are much better armed with hooves, teeth, claws, etc.
- The equipment used in agriculture is, by and large, powerful and not very well guarded to keep clothing or your hands and feet out of moving parts. The machinery can, and will, pull you into it and chew into you before you can breathe one time. I have personally seen the results in emergency rooms. It is something you do not walk away from. In one instance, a man and his son were mowing a field on two tractors. The son’s tractor hit a stump with a back tire, he shot straight up in the air off his seat, and landed between the tire and the mower. Of course, the tractor just kept going and the mower pulled right over his head. His daddy saw the whole thing. Nothing could be done.
- There are long distances between where you are working and help. You may or may not have cell service. I live in north Meriwether County. On parts of my property, I can call out, but on parts, I can’t. What happens if I get hurt? And I had a horse kick me in the back and break a rib.
These are just three examples of rural life. Why am I writing about this? Because many of our children live in rural areas and, for some reason, they are being seen as a “wasted resource of labor” by some “Republicans”. They want these children to be available to go to WORK instead of being at school.
Now, I have a problem with that for lots of reasons:
A. Most of these kids probably have some sort of “chores” out on a farm already anyway. Rural kids that I know don’t get away with staying inside bugging the daylights out of their mother any more than I did.
B. I do have issues with putting smaller bodies with less judgment out with farm animals that have minds of their own without supervision. There are some things they can do and they should. But not as a paying job. Feeding ten hens in the backyard and cleaning coop is not the same thing as working in a layer house with 1000 hens. It’s just not.
C. We are not THAT hard up for labor. Let’s be realistic here. The worker/job ratio goes through cycles. It always does. Right now, for example, they are shooting themselves in both feet by shutting off the “dirt cheap” farm labor coming up from the southern border by chanting fears of “blood pollution” and “criminals” (none of which has been documented). What has happened is the farm workers haven’t arrived. Why? They’re standing in Mexico. Hello?
The Senate Agriculture Committee finally broke the logjam and got a bill out to the floor for consideration. It considers several things and I urge you to read the article and contact your Senators. The House will likewise have to consider it. Anything that takes food off the table of poor Americans ALSO hurts our agricultural community. Any laws that force children to go to work ALSO hurt our society as a whole.
We cannot and must not handicap our children in order to line the pockets of the wealthy and the privileged. This is UN-American, UN-democratic, and UN-acceptable. I will fight for our children in every way possible. I have done so as a CASA and I will continue to do so as a Senator.
Vote for me as your State Senator for District 29 and help me bring better public education and fairness to our area.
Endorsed by Emily’s List
Georgia Equality
Moms against Guns/Everytown
Georgia Conservation Voters
P.O. Box 3816, LaGrange, GA 30241 http://www.wright4georgia.com ellen@wright4georiga.com
Content is copyrighted by the author. It may be republished as long as it is unaltered and proper attribution is given. This included quotes or whole posts. My views are my own. Any errors in factual representations can be brought to my attention with proper documentation. I do not intend to mislead anyone. However, replies with crude or profane language will be ignored. You are hereby warned.
Wright4Georgia 