The Executive In Overalls

As a youngster, Labor Day was always September 1^st no matter what day it fell on. It was the last summer holiday and marked the beginning of the school year which fell on the next business day. It is also my elder brother’s born-on-date, which I suppose gave a more memorable meaning of “labor day” to our mother. Our maternal grandparents always took my brother to the New York State Fair for his birthday. Unless it fell on the weekend it was one of those holiday’s that most people still went to work – my grandmother called such holidays back then a “busman’s holiday” because the city busses ran a weekend schedule; no mail delivery; government was halted; but the garbage collectors were on the job. Whatever! Labor Day got caught up in the three-day weekend mergence many years back and now falls on the first Monday of September. Get to work!


When I think of labor I have a soft spot for the independent entrepreneur business owner, mainly because I’ve been there and done that. Knowing even when they take a day off or devote most of the day to family affairs, they’re still on the job in mind and soul. They’re always on the look-out for opportunities of improvement or advancement for the business, and constantly strategizing their next move, and planning out the next day’s work. Then I think of the farmer and rancher. An article by Bud Lee, former county director and farm adviser for the University of California put it this way: What is a farmer? (rancher) Farmers (ranchers) are found in fields – planting up, seeding down, rotating from, planting to, fertilizing with, spraying for and harvesting if. Wives help them, little boys follow them, city relatives visit them, salesman detain them, meals wait for them, weather can delay them, but nothing can stop them. A farmer (rancher) is a paradox. He is an overalled executive with his office in his home. He is a scientist who uses fertilizer attachments, a purchasing agent in an old straw hat, a personnel director with grease under his fingernails, a dietician with a passion for fresh fruits and vegetables, a production expert faced with surplus, and a manager battling a price-cost squeeze. He manages more capital than most of the businessmen in town. He likes sunshine, good food, county fairs, dinner at noon, auctions, his neighbors, his shirt collar unbuttoned and above all, an above average rainfall. He is not much for droughts, ditches, freeways, weeds, the eight-hour day, dusty roads, insects, diseases, freezing weather or helping around the house. Nobody else gets much satisfaction out of modern plumbing, good weather, automatic furnaces, electric blankets, and homemade ice cream. Nobody else has in his pockets at one time – a three-bladed knife, a checkbook, a billfold, a pair of pliers, and a combination memo book and general farm guide. A farmer (rancher) is both Faith and Fatalist. He must have faith to meet the challenges of his capacities amid the ever-present possibility that an act of God (a late spring, an early frost, flood, drought) can bring his business to a sudden halt. You can reduce his acreage but you can’t diminish his optimism. Might as well put up with him. He is your friend, competitor, your customer, your source of food and fiber. He is your countryman – a denim-dressed, business-wise statesman of stature. And when he comes in at noon having spent the energy of his hopes and dreams, he can be recharged with the magic words – “The market’s up!” (There was a day we all labored with such faith and optimism.)


[James 5:7-8] “Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.”