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Tales from the O-NO Ranch: Outta work

by “Mad” Jack Hanks

Wellington, Colo.

It has become apparent, gentle readers, in the last 18 months that there are a lot of folks that are out of work. It seems the folks suffering the most are the highly skilled and educated folks that used to live in the big ole houses up on the hill. You know, that prairie castle that sort of stuck out above the skyline, the one that just screamed, “LOOK AT ME!” Now that house sits empty with a $400,000 price tag on it and not to many lookers. What happened?



First you get yer education, and then you go on and get some more education. You go to a high-tech company and slide that impressive resume across the desk and watch as the interviewer’s eyebrows shoot up. You get yer dream job, buy that car you have always wanted. You and yer wife have one and a half kids and you play golf every Saturday while yer stockbroker invests yer money and you get more and more wealthy.

You pity that poor guy that works for the county or the janitor at yer kid’s day care center that lives very modestly and drives a 10-year-old pickup.



Guess what? That janitor and the guy that works for the county still have their jobs and are content to be doing what they are doing. You have lost yer home and are now renting a small apartment and you are staying home takin’ care of the one and one half kids and sending out dozens and dozens of resumes while yer wife runs one of the cash registers at “Wally Mart.”

Depressing isn’t it?

I often wondered what would ever happen if our high-tech society ever came unstitched. It’s officially unstitched.

It might sound like I’m pleased to see many of the elite in our society out of work. I am. To be plumb honest about it, I am.

I, too, found myself out of a good job at 50 years of age and two kids in college. I was used to good hard work. It was hard long days that got me to the point where I had that really good job that lasted for so long. There were a couple of get-me-by jobs until I thought that I had found one that would last and had a future to it. It didn’t.

Here’s what you do. You roll up yer sleeves, get to work and never look back and never doubt that you will be back to the level you want to be. Education is a good thing. It is a very good thing and is very necessary in this day and time. It is also necessary to have some skills to fall back on. Today, I am working as hard as I have ever worked and glad to have the opportunity to do so.

When we experience going from one extreme to another, it is very humbling and a big shock to our system to find ourselves on the short end of the stick. You feel like a complete failure and wonder how you could have messed up so badly or not been able to see the wreck coming. The rewards come when you realize you have overcome the situation and again proved your worth.

I once wrote in one of my columns that there should be a law that required every able-bodied man to spend at least one summer at cow camp. It would probably be a good idea to require every young person to spend 18 months in some military type of service right out of high school. They would be forced to grow up in a hurry and learn the value of respect, discipline and commitment.

The military did wonders for me as it does for most folks. Just think how different things might be if Hanoi Jane and Slick Willie had served their country the right way.

Stay tuned, check yer cinch on occasion and never, ever be afraid of good hard work! C. ya.


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