Friday, March 13, 2009

A Gripe.....

This morning, I heard a horn blowing out front...over and over again. So I left the kitchen and walked through to the living room to see what the ruckus was about. What I saw really got my goat....a school bus was just in front of our house tailgating a tractor pulling a trailer full of cabbage and migrant workers and just a-laying on that horn.

Although 80% of the fields that surround us are worked by farmers who have contracts with Lays, down the end of our road is a farmer who grows all sorts of other veggies that you and I might purchase from our grocery stores. He uses Mexican immigrants to work his hundreds of acres of fields. These men work harder than anybody I know. They leave their bunkhouses before the sun comes up and many nights we see them arriving back after it has set. While you and I enjoy Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years off (among other holidays) these men are working those fields to feed us on those days.

And that's why that bus driver so ticked me off. She doesn't have any students to pick up on this road and most likely was simply taking a short cut out to the state road. That tractor belongs on this farming road; it was doing the speed limit and couldn't pull over to let that impatient out of place bus pass because of the six foot ditches that line both sides of most of the length our road. But as soon as the tractor driver could pull over, he did so.

I picked up my phone and called the school board transportation office and filed a complaint...not that it will do much good...these poor farmers experience this horn blowing finger flipping behavior all the time despite the fact that they get out of your way as soon as they can and despite the fact that the food those horn blowers and finger flippers devour each day comes from the hard work of these folks.....

So, in honor of all the farmers out there.....here's a tip of the hat....

4 comments:

  1. OH, AMEN on the farmers! And today, I heard that the EPA is going after farmers for DUST! WHAT?!!?!

    It seems like they can't get a break no matter what they do.

    And, can't people give some credit to the migrant workers for coming here and working so hard? I don't mind them coming legally and wanting to work and get ahead!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Living near the migrants has opened my eyes to how hard they work....it breaks my heart to see them ride down the road on the trailer on Christmas day each year.

    That's why I was so angry at that bus driver...where is the common courtesy let alone the respect due these men?

    Thanks for taking the time to comment....at least I know my feelings are shared by another!

    Have a great weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  3. On behalf of my husband, I will accept your "tip of the hat."
    I appreciate your support of the farmers. We don't get too much of that these days.;D

    Hi, my name is Milah and I found you through Old Centennial Farmhouse. I think I'm gonna enjoy reading your blog. Sounds like we have a lot in common.

    ReplyDelete

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