Dirt on my hands:

Something To Think About Dirt on my hands, 8/21

A popular "Reality" TV show features people who do dirty jobs.  I've watched episodes that featured dead fish, bat dung, sewage and grease of varioussorts. I don't remember who, but I heard a comedian say he didn't want any job that required him to wash his hands before he went to the bathroom.  I have a white-collar job; on occasion, I even wear a white collar, but I often find my hands dirty.  What to do when your hands are covered with grease, mud, or stains from pulling weeds, and you need to reach in your pocket to get your keys or phone, especially when you are wearing the pants that will cause the missus to give you the look over the stains over the pocket? Matthew Crawford talks about the loss of an ethic that has made our culture great.  He speaks of the "misguided separation of thinking from doing, the work of the hand from that of the mind. [He] shows us how such a partition, which began a century ago with the assembly line, degrades work for those on both sides of the divide."  (http://matthewbcrawford.com/)  Though Saul of Tarsus was on his way to becoming the leading rabbi of his day, he knew how to make tents, and did so on numerous occasions.  For most of His adult life Jesus was a carpenter, called by His town's residents "the carpenter."  Clearly he did not shrink from hard work. In my grandparents day there were few who didn't know what it meant to get their hands dirty.  Now many youngsters think such work is beneath them.  From the beginning God's intention was for His people to work with the ground (Genesis 2:15). Perhaps if more folk had dirty hands, we'd have less trouble dealing with dirty minds. Any how . . . It's Something to Think About.

Could it be . . . ?

I don't know who first said it. I heard it attributed to the late George Burns, "People are impressed with sincerity. If you learn to fake that, you've got it made." Everyday, in the advertizing world, highly paid, very creative people get together and try to effectively "fake it."
Still, I'm impressed with a couple of ads I've been seeing lately. One is fairly drenched in sweat. It talks about how America used to make things--products produced with skill, ingenuity, creativity, pride, and hard work. The commercial builds to the punch line and shows pictures of its product. A voice that sounds like it is coming from someone who knows how to work, says something like, "This was once a country where we made things, beautiful things, and so it is again . . ."
The other ad features a voice I love. Sam Eliott must get up every morning and gargle with a mixture of broken glass and turpentine. It is just the voice to hark back to a time when men made deals based on a handshake. I have no doubt that if I went to buy the vehicle the gravely voiced spokesman is promoting there would be a lot of paper I'd have to sign, in addition to the hand-clasp, but, still I'm impressed that the ad looks back to a time when people's word was their bond.
It's highly possible--to the point of near certainty--that these ads are no more sincere than the quintessential promises about the used car owned by a "little-old-lady . . . ." Still, even if the commercials are smoke and mirrors, I see hope based on the buttons Madison Avenue is seeking to push. Could it be that there is a growing awareness that work--labor that actually results in something of value--and honesty are virtues worth preserving? And that our salvation as a nation depends not on more clever accounting, and even slicker speeches, but on hard work and honesty?
I hope so.
It's STTA.
(Here is an address to one of the ads.)