Two Letters Re: Martial Arts Fact Versus Fiction

Jim;
The most recent response to this article includes the following quote: “ I noticed that many seem to be fans of Ultimate Fighting and I’m not going to say its fake, but it is entertainment. The fighters are great but lets be honest, the matches are intended to draw ratings by selling the drama.”

I felt I needed to respectfully respond to this, not with the intention of arguing, but clarifying, based on a more educated and informed perspective on Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). I’ve been a martial artist for over ten years, and involved in Mixed Martial Arts (or Ultimate Fighting) for eight of those years. I’ve met and trained with some of the best fighters in the sport, and have been involved with and trained regularly with traditional martial artists from every conceivable discipline including Goju Ryu, American Kempo, Kyokushin, Tae Kwon Do, Aikido, Aikijitsu, Judo, Russian kickboxing, American kickboxing, Western Boxing, Capoeira, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, freestyle wrestling, submission wrestling, muay thai, Sambo and Gung fu. I’ve trained with two different police departments, bouncers, and numerous members of the armed forces on hand-to-hand combatives. I have also fought “in the cage” as they say.

Without knowing any better, many people compare Mixed Martial Arts to Professional Wrestling, and assume that it is either fake, scripted, or “entertainment”. Unlike WWE or TNA (pro wrestling organizations), Ultimate Fighting organizations (The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), King of the Cage, World Extreme Combat, Pride, Bodog Fights, etc) do not script their matches or decide the outcomes beforehand. The sport of MMA is a combination of the three most legitimate combat sports that exist today: boxing, kickboxing, and wrestling. In fact, the sport existed in the ancient Greek Olympics under the name “Pankration”, and was the first and most celebrated sport in the games.

Many people’s idea of martial arts comes from watching Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, or Chuck Norris take down an opponent in a fast, cool, calculated fashion…often with little effort. This is Hollywood . This is fake. Anyone who has been in real combat with tell you that it’s dirty, clumsy, unpredictable, and scary. To expect two MMA Athletes (Ultimate Fighters) to step into the ring or cage and finish one another off quickly and realistically is to insult their skill and devotion to the sport. The fact that an Ultimate Fight can last 15 minutes is purely due to the level of proficiency, athleticism, and rules involved in the sport itself.

Imagine Mike Tyson being confronted on the street by a mugger. One lunging hook later, the mugger is laid out cold with a broken jaw, assuming he doesn’t have a weapon. However, though Iron Mike walked through many opponents in the ring in this manner, fighters like Buster Douglas and Evander Holyfield just absorbed Mike’s tremendous power and kept on coming. Why? Because they trained every day to do just that.

If an MMA athlete was confronted by an untrained person on the street, that untrained person would likely end up in the ICU with broken limbs and a collapsed trachea. However, when two highly trained, experienced, and athletic MMA fighters square off, it often becomes a chess match. On the other hand, there are plenty of lightning fast knockouts and submissions if that’s what you’re after.

The rules in MMA were created for the safety and longevity of the fighters, and due to constant and rigorous pressure testing, real application, and scientific examination and re-examination, the style of “Mixed Martial Arts” or “Ultimate Fighting” has become the post complete, efficient, effective and proven self-defense system in existence today. That’s why Police Departments and Militaries the world over are now training these concepts. Without the rules, MMA would be a gladiatorial bloodbath, and high caliber athletes would steer clear. However, think about the techniques that aren’t allowed: biting, eye gouging, hair pulling, groin strikes, throat strikes, finger breaking, kicking a downed man…
How much training do these techniques really require? In fact, combine all those techniques, and I’d say that’s pretty much how an untrained person would fight. Do you really think a trained MMA Athlete wouldn’t utilize these techniques in a life-or-death altercation? Of course they would!!!

As was also said in the article, “As many have stated before [you need to learn] a system with equal parts grappling, punching, kicking, elbows, knees, etc.” Well, that’s the definition of modern MMA or Ultimate Fighting. Combine with that the natural “dirty” techniques mentioned above, as well as training with firearms and blades (we do cover blades in my MMA class) and you’ve got a comprehensive self-defense system that has something few others do… a regular and high caliber testing arena, that all are free to watch and enjoy, where the finer techniques of the system are constantly streamlined, tested, innovated, sometimes discarded, and generally forced to evolve from the outdated traditional exercise routines they are based on.

Next time you watch The Ultimate Fighting Championship, imagine that hypothetical fight between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris… and know that both were/are outspoken proponents of MMA. Most Sincerely, – EID

 

Sir,

A very well thought out and personally researched treatise on martial arts. There were one two points with which I respectfully disagree: Point #3) MMA/ UFC fighters are great athletes, and at the top end are the best ring fighters, bar none. As such, they are fighting within time limits, rounds, etc. and have a precise time frame for the entire event. Thus, what looks like stalling is, in fact, a chess game to make one’s move without getting caught coming in. In a street encounter, one doesn’t know which round one is in, so don’t dawdle: see initial statement of point #3; Point #11) owning a gun makes one no more of a gunfighter than owning a piano makes one a musician. Any artificial weapon must be an extension of a natural attack. The more complex the weapon, the more complete the new skill-set to master said weapon becomes (brass knuckles require far less training than an Uzi to use effectively, for example). If one neglects to acquire these necessary skills, little more is accomplished than providing weapons to bad guys.

On the highlight reel: #5) Awareness! Fights avoided are rarely lost…#4) The fight’s over when the winner says so! Now, shut up and reload!…#9) We call this Environmental Awareness, and it’s not the Al Gore Greenie-Weenie Variety; simply stated, your Environment is everything in, on, and around you. Spinning some miscreant headlong into a dumpster has the same effect of a crack to the forehead with a PR-24 night stick, without the hassles of carrying one; #8) Fight Dirty! Strike hard, strike fast, strike them to the ground…I call this The Theory of Inverted Sportsmanship. If you’d like to know a solid basis for self-defense, get wrestling, boxing, judo, and UFC rulebooks. Everything in these that is considered a foul is to protect the fighters from serious injury. Therefore, these are the methods to apply first and most vigorously when attacked.

I found myself in total agreement with the letter , with the exception of the two minor points stated earlier. One omission I would like to emphasize, that gets scant attention in any martial arts setting, for politically correct reasons: you must be absolutely ruthless with your attacker. You must be willing to brutally smash him into submission. If you are squeamish on this now, your flight instinct will take over in a confrontation, your fine motor-skills will vanish, you you will get your head (or some other vital or exotic part of your anatomy) handed to you. We refer to this as Spiritual Point of Origin: finish the fight, in its most gruesome outcome, now, in your head, and make peace with it. If you cannot accept mentally and spiritually that which you may be required to do, how can you possibly manifest the same physically? The short answer, folks, is, you can’t…As always, Keep the Faith, – Bonehead

Odds ‘n Sods:

Frequent contributor Inyokern sent this: T. Boone Pickens offers further prognostication on Peak Oil and alternative energy.

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A reminder that Front Sight’s very generous “Get a Gun” training and gear package offer will be ending soon. It is limited to the first 5,000 people that sign up. The response has been huge, so don’t dawdle! If you miss out on this deal, you’ll surely regret it.

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Oil prices pass $133 per barrel after report of supply drop

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RBS sent us this: Guess this buyer saw a golden opportunity. It reminds me of the old maxim; “The value of a thing is what that thing will bring.”

Note from JWR:

Please continue to spread the word about SurvivalBlog. Mentioning the blog in forum posts or when you call talk radio shows would be greatly appreciated!

Letter Re: Challenging Conventional Beliefs on Saving Hybrid Seeds

Hello James:
Conventional wisdom holds that one should not plant seeds saved from “hybrid” plants. This wisdom is ironclad boilerplate and generally appears in paragraph 2, sentence 2 of every essay on gardening when it really counts. I want to push back on that idea.

My understanding of agricultural history is that most farmers raised landraces of vegetables and animals prior to the 1600s. A landrace is a swarm of similar-but-not-identical plants or animals. There are very few exceptions, Merino sheep being one of them and asexually reproduced fruit trees being another.

The introduction of “County Fairs” changed that. Suddenly, the emphasis went from feeding and clothing one’s family to having the biggest gooseberry or carrot, the earliest ripening apple or the most artistic sheaf of oats. This coincided with the dawn of the industrial revolution. Fertilizer was barged in from the coasts and suddenly the struggle to supply absolute minimum calorie and protein per-capita requirements lifted.

The County Fair provided a new venue to prove one’s worthiness as an alpha male. “Show” characteristics were selected for to the exclusion of vague, difficult-to-measure attributes like “livability” and vigor. Those characteristics simply did not “show” and win ribbons.

Genetic selection of one characteristic to the exclusion of all others nearly always results in a narrowing of the genetic base. The fastest way to select for one characteristic is some form of in-breeding. That also results in a loss of general vigor.

More than two hundred years of “County Fair” style based breeding and the resulting in-breeding depression created the backdrop for the hybrid revolution. At that time, Agricultural Scientists found that crossing two in-bred lines generally resulted in a 30%-to-40% increase in yield. One perspective of hybrid seed is that it allowed farmers to regain the vigor of the landrace genetic swarm while retaining the extreme uniformity (important for mechanized agriculture) of in-bred cultivars.

Simple facts:
-Most in-bred lines used to produce f1 (first generation) hybrids are edible.
-All of the progeny of those hybrids will be edible.
-Most modern hybrids offer high degrees of disease resistance.
-Many of the progeny of modern hybrids will retain various degrees of that disease resistance.
-There will be a huge increase in plant-to-plant variation in height, ripening season, fruit/grain size in the f2 generation compared to both the hybrid and conventional cultivars.
-It is unlikely that the f2 generation will suffer a 40% loss in productivity compared to the hybrid parent. Two factors come into play. One is a quirk of mathematics. Going from 100bu/a to 150bu/a is a 50% increase but going back from 150bu/a to 100bu/a is a 33% decrease. The second factor is that the basis for the early hybrid comparisons were fairly inbred cultivars. The progeny of f1 hybrids won’t suffer from in-breeding depression.

Summary:
-In dire circumstances, planting seeds from hybrid tomatoes, corn, squash, etc. will produce far more food than leaving your backyard in Kentucky Bluegrass.
-There will be a large increase in plant-to-plant variation.
-Plant-to-plant variation can be managed by increasing the seeding rate and thinning out the goofy plants.
-This is not heresy. Rather, it is a return to the genetic swarm of the landraces that fed humanity for thousands of years.
-Scientific breeding is the art of breeding the best to the best…and culling the rest. So save the best of your f2 generation for the next year’s seed. Regards, – Joe H.

JWR Replies: You’ve swayed me a bit, but I stand by the assertion that seed saved from hybrids will generally not provide the same potential yield and quality as the parent plants. Hybrids are fine to use in the short term, but in the long term, to be fully prepared you need to have non-hybrid (a.k.a. “open pollinated” or “heirloom”) seed reserves to fall back on. You need to continuously practice saving seed. (It is a skill that takes some time to learn.) Also, be sure to practice isolating plants from unintended cross-fertilization.

Further, keep in mind that the new (and patented) “Terminator Gene” technology will undoubtedly become more widespread in the years to come. Seed saved from those crops will have virtually no useful yield, and even if they did, it would invite lawsuits.

Letter Re: Potassium Iodide Versus Potassium Iodate for Post-Nuke Thyroid Gland Protection

James,
You mentioned stocking up on Potassium Iodide (KI). The head trainer at Medical Corps–(I took their awesome class, thanks for giving it kudos)–developed Potassium Iodate (KI03). It has a huge benefit over KI, in that it doesn’t upset the stomachs of the people taking it [as much as KI]. Medicine is much more beneficial if you don’t involuntarily purge it.

Another thing I’d like to mention to SurvivalBlog readers is that KI and KI03 don’t expire, even if the bottles have expiration dates marked. Since it is not an organic–it a very basic chemical compound. Iodine might leach out and turn the tablets dark, but iodine is still iodine. Just mix it with food to cover the bad taste and it’ll still be effective. With Regards, – Cody (a 10 Cent Challenge Subscriber)

Surviving During the Crisis (Translated from the Energie & Klima Blog)

JWR’s Introductory Note: The following is a re-post from the Energie & Klima Blog, which was kindly translated by SurvivalBlog reader Martyn B., a multi-lingual Danish ex-pat that lives in Spain . To read the original article in German, see: Überleben in der Krise

Within the next two years, the price of oil could rise to $150 to $200 per barrel, analysts of the investment bank Goldman Sachs forecasted yesterday under the management of the famous chief analyst, Arjun N. Murti. According to the news agency Bloomberg, the cause is stated mainly as being that the supply of oil cannot cover the rising demand from countries that are comprised by the growth, such as China. The chief analyst of said bank in Munich Harlaching, where parents in the “villa suburbs” exchange the newest economic developments while they watch the kids playing in the sandbox and on the climbing rigs, only smile at such forecasts. The man in his late forties who is never seen without science and economy magazines, has already moved on. For a while, he has now been reading and praising “Walden” by Thoreau.

On request, Uwe informs overbearing, smiling parents that the imminent “crisis” has nothing to do with the crisis from the 1980s where Monaco Franze [bon-vivant, small time crook and protagonist of a German television series by the same name] procured forest strawberries, parma ham and champagne from Dallmayr (Delicatessen chain) for picnics with pretty female schoolmates in the English garden while the whole world around him was talking about crisis, saved and dared not “fill up”. No, the imminent crisis, according to Uwe, is written in upper case: PEAK OIL, CLIMATE CHANGE, FINANCIAL CRISIS, HUNGER RIOTS and cannot be charmingly painted pretty by Munich-Harlachingen-ish island mentality, a completely misguided “Munich feeling”. You need to
get prepared, right now, for a totally new, radically changed lifestyle in order to survive this CRISIS.

As The Guardian reported at the beginning of the week, Uwe is a part of a greater international movement. So-called survivalists with a sharpened awareness of the possibility of an impending total breakdown of Economy and Society, would be discussing on countless pages on the Internet where to find refuge and how to best equip your retreat once the time comes.
While many would not shy away from breaking arms legislation when equipping themselves, most will, according to information from The Guardian journalist Harriet Green, be content with the milder methods for fighting for survival, such as stashing food, growing fruit and vegetables in their own gardens as recommended by the famous British television chef Jamie Oliver and self-sufficiency in terms of energy and water.

When it comes to money, survivalists will also be looking for new opportunities. According to Harriet Green, precious metals are preferred. (For savings, Uwe advises stocks and real estate).

“The safe haven must be self sufficient”. Ex-banker Barton M. Biggs also knows this. He is also one of the people cited in The Guardian‘s Survivalist Overview as warning against the impending total breakdown. The former (until 2003) “Chief Global Strategist” of Morgan Stanley has published a book, “Wealth, War and Wisdom” and contains, according to Bloomberg, has an unusual piece of advice for the rich: “Insure yourself against war and disaster by buying a remote farm or ranch and procure large stocks of seed, fertilizer, canned food, wine, medicine, clothes etc.”
The “etc.”, Bloomberg alleges, “must mean guns”.

But even when “the wolf is at the door”, there are also survivalists with a less bleak concept of the time after Peak Oil, such as the webmaster of WolfAtTheDoor, who predicts to The Guardian that TEOTWAWKI will occur within the next decade: “I’ll be turning 50 this year. So far, I’ve had a good life. I want to enjoy the next 5 to 10 years.”

Uwe, as it seems, has found a girlfriend among the single parents in Munich-Haidhausen; maybe he will soon be writing crisis in lower case. I’ll soon be going to BeraterBank to find out.
– Thomas Pany, May 7, 2008

Odds ‘n Sods:

From Matt in Texas: The Rise of Stagflation Means the End of Fiat Wealth

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E.J. (our British ex-pat correspondent living in rural Italy) mentioned this piece from The Guardian newspaper: The island house that powers itself – with a little help from 100 mph gales

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Readers Sam K. and Stephen S. note that Peak Oil is now getting more mainstream media coverage, such as this CNBC piece: $12 Gas and Rationing? Possible, Says Expert. (The article quotes Robert Hirsch, who was the lead writer for SAIC’s well-publicized Report on Peak Oil, in 2005.) And speaking of Peak Oil, reader A.A.P. mentioned Tom Whipple”s scary piece about diesel price escalation posted over at Energy Bulletin. A.A.P.’s comment: “A diesel backup generator may now be a bad idea.” FWIW, I still lean toward propane-powered gensets. But if I had access to a source of biodiesel, I’d definitely be in favor of diesel generators.

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Stephen S. sent us this link: Gun owners pinched as ammo costs shoot up. Congrats to the SurvivalBlog readers that stocked up in advance of the recent price increases. Ammo is better than money in the bank.

Two Letters Re: Beyond First Aid–Where to Learn Medical Skills

James,
It’s funny how life gets in the way. I was in the process of writing a fairly long (I stopped at 15 pages) discussion of pandemics and medical care at home when the report in Chest came out. Suffice it to say that the wind was somewhat taken from my sails. And my take-home messages would have been 1) Hospitals are terrible places to be in a pandemic so stay away (I plan to), 2) Since you’re not going to the hospital, people at home better learn how to do basic nursing care (so finding older nursing textbooks and patient care equipment like bedpans is a good idea), and 3) despite what all of medical science can, and cannot do, think about what to do when your family member succumbs to the disease.

I’m also pleased to see the various good points offered by others with regard to medical care. The Western Rifle Shooters Association course looks particularly good. Almost all of the various suggestions are good, but there are a couple of things that need to be emphasized:

For example, having antibiotics and administering them can be very good – but, you have to use the right antibiotic for the organism in question. Using an antibiotic that is effective against (say) Gram-positive organisms when the patient has a Gram-negative infection is not ‘almost as good’ or ‘close enough’, it’s not only not at all helpful, it can make the patient much worse (not to mention using up valuable resources that are not easily replaced). There is a reason there are lots of different antibiotics, and there is no one magic bullet that works on everything.

Starting an IV is sometimes necessary, but usually not – we use them in the hospital to keep a route open for drug administration right away, should it be needed, and to provide fluids. However, the current Tactical Casualty Care Guidelines (used by military medics in combat, and limited in applicability to that sort of trauma, only) call for IV fluids to be withheld until hemorrhage (bleeding) is stopped. Not only is it wasteful of scarce resources (in combat, you only have what you have, not unlike a TEOTWAWKI situation), but adding more fluids to drain out onto the ground is actually dangerous to the patient (IV fluids don’t carry oxygen, and washing out red blood cells is a bad idea). So, stopping the bleeding (if any) comes first.

In a medical (the patient is sick, not hurt) situation, keeping the patient hydrated is important, but giving too much fluids via IV can be just as harmful – especially in a respiratory infection kind of pandemic: The fluid has to go somewhere, and can build up in the lungs causing pulmonary edema and eventually heart failure. In fact, this is one of the modalities that people died from during the 1918 influenza pandemic. IVs too, can cause harm if used with gusto by people who don’t fully understand the physiology of the body.

Also, being able to apply a cast is great – but, if the fracture is not reduced (straightened) first, the person will be left with a life-long disability. If the blood vessels are compromised (either by the fracture, or the treatment) the persons limb will certainly be put at significant risk, and their life very much potentially so. It’s not a matter of simply applying a cast. And should a person need a wet plaster cast applied to a leg (for example), it will be several days at least before the cast will be strong enough to be moved, so the patient will require bed rest and care for that time – and as you and others have said, they will require a wheel chair and crutches for several months while the leg heals – a big plaster cast is heavy. And care must be taken to not apply the cast too tightly, to monitor the cast and limb for swelling and be ready to cut it open (bivalve it) if swelling is present, and the right amount of padding must be used since the plaster gets pretty hot while it is curing.

And finally, there are few (if any) reasons why a wound must be sutured in the field. All wounds will heal, eventually, and it’s often better to leave a wound that is contaminated with foreign matter open than to close it. All wounds must be cleaned out, and while we will use sterile water or saline solution plain clean water is just fine. Using a 30cc syringe with a 22 gauge angiocath (a flexible needle used for IV administration) will provide about the ideal pressure, but using a plastic bag with a small hole poked in it will work adequately. The important thing is to get the wound cleaned out – dirt, leaves, blood clots, and anything else not viable – including dead and dying tissue, which must be removed surgically (we call that debriding). Then, the body is made in layers, and when you’re sewing it up it each layer has to be sewn separately, with each layer using a particular kind of suture material, a particular needle, and a particular kind of stitches. Even closing a ‘simple’ skin laceration can cause problems if the edges of the wound are pulled too tightly – blood flow is compromised, the tissue dies, and infection sets in leading to sepsis and gangrene.
After all, the first rule of medicine is “First, do no harm”. – Flighter

 

Jim:
Chuck Fenwick at Medical Corps runs a fine operation, but there are other ways to learn to suture. Chuck does have great surgical equipment and suture material for sale at very good prices.
First download Ethicon’s book on wound closure, or buy a printed copy from Amazon.com, among other places.

This is the same book (in a newer edition, of course) that I was taught with back in the early 1960s in my summer job as an ortho tech while in college.
Then get the necessary instruments (needle-holder, surgical scissors, etc.), including a package or two of suture with an atraumatic needle (needle attached) or separate curved needles. Don’t worry about sterile technique at this point. You’re learning technique and to tie knots.

Next, order a fresh ham (not smoked) from your butcher or the local grocer. This will be your “patient”. Now make a small incision through the skin of the ham, maybe 4″ long. Suture the incision following the directions in the manual. Then make another incision and suture it closed. Continue this until you can close an incision at a reasonable speed with a nice neat row of stitches. This is how I learned to suture, at the kitchen table at home.

Finally, remove all the sutures, bake the ham, and serve with red cabbage and sweet potatoes for Sunday dinner. I hope this is of help to your readers. – Jonas P.

JWR Adds: Keep in mind that most wounds do not require suturing–although failing to do so will likely result in the formation of some extra scar tissue. But remember that we are talking about TEOTWAWKI here–not a beauty contest. Also, don’t be in a hurry to suture! In most cases wounds should indeed be allowed to drain extensively, and premature closure could actually increase the risk of sepsis.

Choosing an HK91 Clone Versus the M1A for a Primary Battle Rifle

Hello Mr. Rawles.
My Father bought me your novel “Patriots” and I read it and it really inspired me and woke me up to becoming more of a survivalist. I live in the country just about 50 miles out side of Chicago (pretty much the worst place to be if the SHTF, well even if it doesn’t, it still sucks, LOL), but never mind that we have other places to go, thank God. I have always been around guns. I have been shooting probably since I could walk. Anyway, I am wondering why in your book you chose to [show the main characters owning] HK91s instead of M1As? We have both a HK91 and an M1A, both with lots of accessories. I would most likely take my LMT AR-15 over the .308 but I’m open to change. I was just wondering why you chose the Heckler and Koch or which one you like better for that matter. Thank you for the advice if you can. – Eric B.

JWR Replies: I consider the two rifles essentially comparable, although if fiberglass bedded, an M1A can be much more accurate. I recommend HK91 clones because they are presently less expensive than M1As, and their spares are much less expensive. An M14 parts kit (everything but the receiver) is around $750, if you can find one. But you can buy a G3 part kit for under $250. Excellent condition military surplus HK G3 magazines are as little as $2 each. So buy at least 50 of them, while they are still cheap. Meanwhile, USGI M14 magazines are $22 to $28 each. Ouch! So buying 50 spare magazines would cost you around $1,100–which is enough to buy another rifle!

Odds ‘n Sods:

Yishai suggested a Hack-n-Mod video clip on how to make thermite. Warning: Some serious safety precautions must be taken, because thermite burns at temperatures hot enough to liquefy steel, and once ignited, it is almost impossible to extinguish. (It generates its own oxygen.) Note the minor accident near the end of the video. He’ll also have some serious explaining to do about that back porch slab.

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Kevin a recommended this piece by Marty Weiss: Brace yourself! The U.S. government could be understating the Consumer price Index by 7.6%!

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Frequent content contributor Michael Z. Williamson mentioned a web article about some locals in Cambodia improvising a working rail train from a few spare parts. Note that from the photos it appears to be dead level ground and there is no sign of a hand brake. Having a brake is a must, for safety. Also, see our archived survivalBlog articles about high-railers and rail motorcars (a.k.a. “speeders”–such as this one posted in July of Aught Six–that discuss the serious legal and safety implications of using right-of-ways that belong to railroad companies.

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Any SurvivalBlog readers fluent in German will probably find this Energie & Klima Blog post interesting: Überleben in der Krise.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“[T]he Clinton administration launched an attack on people in [Waco,] Texas because those people were religious nuts with guns. H*ll, this country was founded by religious nuts with guns. Who does Bill Clinton think stepped ashore on Plymouth Rock? Peace Corps volunteers? Or maybe the people in Texas were attacked because of child abuse. But, if child abuse was the issue, why didn’t Janet Reno tear-gas Woody Allen? – P.J. O’Rourke

Letter Re: The Modern Conception of “Hard Work” Versus a Traditional Farmer’s Tasks

Sir:
I recently finished trenching and running a few hundred feet of irrigation pipe on land that has been in my wife’s family for a few generations. We are the proud recipients of this small farm in the Southeast US. My Mother-In-Law was helping, and getting various tools and such out of the 100 year old barn (still standing and strong). We found an old hoe that was worn so that over half of the tine was missing. She said that her father and grandfather had used this hoe to manually weed and till every bit of the 50 acres! This was a farm that didn’t have indoor plumbing until the early 1970s.

Here I was, exhausted from digging a trench (with a machine of course), and laying pipe (plastic with glue), and had been working “very hard” for a few hours. Slowly realizing, listening to my mother-in-law that her family worked this land without the aid of gas powered equipment until her father died in the late 1980s. For over 125 years this farm had produced an income and raised families. I was tired after working, but now had an understanding that in no way can I count myself in the same league as the men that had worked sun up to sun down by hand, these were true men. I whine when the lawn mower won’t easily start, or when the padded handle on the shovel gets too hard for comfort!

In the interest of preparedness, each of us should examine ourselves to see if we have it in us both physically and mentally to work at providing for our loved ones. After this experience, I am doing more to get myself physically in shape for what may come. No matter, I will be happier, healthier, and more humble than before! God Bless, – RJ in the Southeast US