I love working with my hands.
It's true. Every (well almost every) Saturday, I get up way too early. I stop at the Quik Trip to pick up coffee and breakfast. I see handfuls of laborers getting their morning pick-me-up. Plumbers, drywallers, electricians. People who work with their hands. Work hard.
I work hard, too. I build houses. Although I do this only once a week, these guys do it every day. They work hard. I work hard once a week. I work hard because I want to. These guys I see every Saturday; they work hard because they have to. They work hard because they want a better future, for themselves and for their families. They toil in the blistering hot sun. They work in the dead of winter. And I have a world of respect for them.
I love working with my hands. I love getting dirty. I love working so hard and sweating so much I smell so bad even my mom would have a hard time letting me into the house. I do it because it's fun. I learn. I work out my aggressions. It's my gym, what little of it I attend. And when I get home, I relish the feeling of exhaustion I have worked up that day. On Sunday I rest. On Monday I return to my office job. My air conditioned office job. With a chair.
But these laborers I see at the Quik trip every Saturday morning? On Monday, they just go back to the exhausting work I do for fun, one day a week. They do it every day. These laborers literally build our country. I have a world of respect for them. You should, too.
http://www.atlantahabitat.org
