On Hard Work
Having a strong work ethic is something we value hugely here at Red Ants Pants.
We toss the phrase around loosely and we certainly work hard, but we don’t spend much time thinking about it, or why it is so darn fundamental to our company values.
Having our home base in Meagher County, where the top industry is agriculture, we are fortunate to be surrounded by some really hard-working people. People that work from 5am to 10pm this time of year, when the grain has to be harvested, and the second cutting of hay has to be put up, and the cows need to be gathered from the high country.
And when a tire blows on the combine, you need to know how to replace it ($2,700 for a new tire!) and when the starter goes out in your grain truck, you need to know how to fix it. You need a good parts store nearby, you need a good welder, you need the right skills and equipment, but you also need the work ethic to keep moving forward.
“Ethic” is defined as a set of moral principles.
I like that a work ethic is tied to morals.
A good farmer/rancher friend of mine gave me hell for sleeping in the other day (past 5:00am).
“People die in bed you know…that’s what my Dad always says.” Fair enough.
So here’s to the elbow grease, the early mornings, the duty of it all.
Here’s to the men and women working incredibly damn hard to feed this country, to build and maintain the infrastructure of our cities and towns, our roads, and our lives.
Our hats are off to you. See you at 5:00am tomorrow.
In love and gratitude,
Calhoun
3 Comments. Leave new
very well said wish people had a work ethic like that thank you for the prep talk
Well said! Reminded me of this Poem
To Be of Use
BY MARGE PIERCY
The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.
I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.
I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.
The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.
So good to hear – THAT is getting back to basics for every American!!