Down on the Farm

 So it was somewhere in the great flyover mid-section that this farm owner decided it was time to harvest his crops.

The project would be far too big for himself and his family to complete, so he drove over to the nearby town of Lake Wobehoohoo. He parked his old Chrysler in the vast parking lot and walked into the Marketplace Food Court to have some breakfast. 

While consuming there, the farmer was checking out the locals to recruit some help for the upcoming work.

By ’n by, he spotted some guys and gals that he knew to be good workers and waved them over to his table. The farm owner explained to them the project that he needed to get done and asked  if they’d like to get in on the job, for which he would pay each one a hundred bucks for the day’s work.

The wiley crew signed on and headed out to the farm to get started on the work, to be managed by his boss-man.

As it turned out, however, a little while later the farm owner got a text from his manager stating that the his assessment of their progress indicated that the harvest would not be completed that same day unless more labor was brought in to help.

So the farmer went back to the Marketplace to recruit some more help, and sure enough there were some eligible workers hanging out at the Marketplace. So he hooked up with them, made the deal and sent them out to help the other workers complete the project.

But that afternoon, the manager’s text were still calling for more labor. The farmer went back to the Food Court to scope out the scene and recruit yet some more help. Sure enough, there were some young bucks and chicks hanging out and he signed them on.

Long about five o’clock, wanting to make sure the project would be completed, he signed on even more laborers.

It was one helluva long day, but by 6:30 pm. the work was all done.

Thank God. Now the farm owner and his family could relax.

So he paid everybody their agreed-upon compensation, thanked them for their good work and sent them on their way.

By ’n by, as the farmer and his family were settling into their homestead for the evening meal, there came a knock at the door.

A couple of those early guys who had been hired in the early workday hours were standing on the front porch at the front door when the farm owner opened it. 

Long story short . . . these guys were busybodies who were not interested in minding their own business. They started complaining because they had heard through the grapevine online that all the workers got the same compensation, even though the late hires—those good-for-nothin’ doowops—had entered into the project in the waning hours and only toiled for a few hours. Some of them losers even worked for only one hour! and then collected the same equal opportunity-equal outcome-equal this-n-that na na na booboo compensation!

So Jethro, standing at his front door looking disdainfully at these complainers, says to them:

“Friends, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a hundred bucks? Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to these latecomers the same payment. I mean . . . isn’t it still legal for me to utilize my own resources and assets as is appropriate for my enterprise? Can you not mind your own dam business and be content while I do what I need to do?”

And so, in the big picture as it turns out . . . in some cases,  the last shall be first, and the first shall be last. No big deal. 

Y’all be content with your lot in life and we’ll all get along.

Everybody ain’t the same, y'know. But there’s diversity and there’s responsibility and there’s . . . well, you know . . . freedom and equality and all that. Some folks who got a raw deal maybe a few centuries ago may be due a new deal now. Don’t worry your pretty little privileged head about it.

 

Glass half-Full