the 11th of the fifth of the 12th

ONCE UPON A TIME

In Virginia along rural road 175 east, there used to be a old waterman who kept his boat right along the road's edge.  The boat was in reasonably good shape but the dock, if you could call it that, was in great need of repair.  The entire package reminded me of.....

  "This is my business and I am doing my best"!

 There was no place to park a car along the busy two lane causeway and I am not sure how the owner commuted each day to and from his boat and job.  I do know how I backed up tourist traffic to take the photograph.  After years of passing by, I just had to bite the bullet and pull over to snap a few quick images.

I am not sure that strong work ethic is much around anymore.  I know the boat and dock has gone the way of most relics.  But the independent attitude of doing hard work and scraping out a living from your surroundings may be gone.  While there are still family farms in this country, the big corporate farms make the most money.  And even if you are successful at your small business, the state, federal and local taxes eat much of the profits.  EPA, in my mind an illegal organization, controls most of the way we do or are not allowed to do business anymore.  Mom and Pop shops struggle just to pay rent to landlords with delusions of grander.

And so it is, when I see the remains of a man's life, I am struck by the struggle.  I am struck by the independence which made this great country.  And I am struck by the dwindling numbers of folks who depended upon that independence and the hard work.  They are the one who created the world's greatest country.  The World's greatest economy.  They are the givers and not the takers.