When I was a teenager, I and a group of neighborhood buddies used to hang
out at the general store. It was one of those pot-belly stove, sell
everything, mom and pop general stores straight out of Mayberry. We hung
around waiting for local farmers who needed help with hay, tobacco, etc. We
had no money and there were no fast food joints or Walmarts to provide jobs
for teenagers. The farmers had no problem finding a young, strong, ready and
willing work force.
Today that store doesn't exist, teenagers seem to have better things to do,
and farmers struggle to find workers. Their only option is to hire Mexicans.
I teach at the local high school. Not ten percent of the boys have done any
kind of farmwork, nor would they do it given the chance. It is "too hard."
My how times have changed (and attitudes)!
As some have stated, the immigrants are simply doing the work that has
somehow become "beneath" native Americans. We are a spoiled society. Larry
Willis
