1619 : THE PAPER BOY : Part IX
• Are you allergic to Bee’s?
I helped Dollar Bill and his dad a lot at the local swap meets. It was a lot of loading and unloading trucks and getting up early on Saturday to sell the things we made. Sometimes we sold enough to get ahead.
Success or failure depended on self-reliance.
No handouts for that generation just gut it out hard work and make things happen. Hard work was essential. I have often said I don’t really need to work but I truly need to pay the rent if I don’t want to live on the street.
Back then to be on welfare meant you were a loser and couldn’t cut it in the real world.
I always marveled at that doggedness they had to use creativity and sheer will to live on their own and not accept the welfare lifestyle. The government dole was frowned upon back then. Boy times have changes and not for the better in the case of welfare.
The Gov't Dole Was Frowned Upon Back Then
• • • Boy Times Have Changes and Not For The Better In The Case of Welfare • • •
California has only 14% of the population of America and nearly 35% of the welfare of the entire country.
In fact I had read that
more than half of the county of Tulare is now on some form of welfare because of its close proximity to farming and seasonal work. No amount of swap meet creativity can overcome that level of poverty.
I used to go with Bill and his dad on the rural routes delivering the Fresno Bee. The Bee was pretty big back then. Not as big as the LA times or even the green sheets but almost. We had a nice little system where Bill and I would sit in the back seat and fold while Jerry drove. We had just enough time to fold in the car, do the route and then go to school or to work. Rainy and foggy days made this a huge challenge. Adding the plastic bags to the process was intense.
We would alternate sides to help us along the way as we rallied through the rural route. Again you get paid for the job not the time so you did it as fast as you could because time was money. Hard work made the time pass and definitely made tempers flare.
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I guess you could say throwing papers builds a good work ethic.
You might also say it helped you grow some thick skin. We were not allergic to work. If we ever got a bee sting we rubbed dirt in it and kept moving.
From Grandpa yelling at us to our dads yelling at us to get things done we just thought that was how life was. We didn’t get too excited about things like hurt feelings. We always knew Grandpa loved us and our fathers loved us even if they were tough on us. They taught is to be Men and showed us that to be a man you had to be strong. Strong men protected the family.
We had to work hard and fast to be successful in the paper business. We had to try to be perfect in the delivery because rework came out of your paycheck (time). We had to get up early even when you didn’t want to because that was the demand of the job. We became self-reliant and tough under pressure. The Paper business like many others in that day was demanding and rewarding as it built character. We had to be creative and we had to answer to our customers.
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We had to be creative and we had to answer to our customers.
We had to build relationships and we had to work to keep and grow our customer base through good service and dependability. In short we had to love and serve our neighbors and our families to build good relationships. Remember that movie with the kid that was tracking down his neighbors to collect his 2 dollars from the paper route? You had to be relentless because it was mostly a thankless job.
My friend Tom who grew up on Mill Street always used to be one of our leaders. When we used to ride bikes by Murray Park. If we got in any arguments Tom would just get our attention and say oh well don’t worry about the disagreement just move on its still a free country.
Tom had a way of helping us get along reminding us it didn’t matter much if we agreed so long as we were all free. Great advice for people today. This simple phrase “Hey it’s still a free country” really kept us on track and focused on making the most of our time and not fighting.
“Hey It’s Still A Free Country”
• This simple phrase really kept us on track & focused on making the most of our time •
We need to start saying this again when folks disagree and simply move on. This attitude really helped me to cope throughout my childhood. We didn’t take ourselves to seriously back then. Life had its ups and downs but we didn’t get hung up arguing over things that we couldn’t control. When Jerry would blow a gasket about missing a driveway on that Fresno Bee route we just took it in stride.
That’s just the way it was ~ it was not personal. It was business you had to get it right and when you didn’t you heard about it and then you got better.
Throwing the paper in the rain was especially challenging on the rural route. It would be 4am before light and we would be working to fold and bag the Bee to keep them from getting wet fast enough to keep up with Jerry rolling down the road as fast as that little pinto would carry us between drops. It was quite an adventure actually. We had a lot of laughs and we made few bucks along the way. All of the yelling and gnashing of teeth was just part of life and we laughed about it later. It was always exciting trying to deliver a rural route in the Fog. No fear.
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You had to go boldly into the fog and deliver on the promise.
Foggy days were definitely a challenge. The Paper Boy’s didn’t really have fancy foggy day schedules, it had to get done. We were not mailmen but rain or shine we delivered. We had to do it, the process of overcoming in real life practice. We learned a lot of life lessons throwing the paper. Those were the good ole days. Today folks would call them the bad ole days but there are more important things in life than money and being offended. Friendship and family are forged in the crucible of life as you overcome challenges.
Some challenges are harder than others but that’s just life. Americans always found a way to overcome. We always found a way to persevere. We were always humble enough that if we crossed the line on something we would eventually mend fences and get over it. Pride is an enemy of virtue. When we were humble it helped us grow up and built strong relationships as a result. We learn the most from our failures if we are humble. When you are humble you find rest.
Pride Is An Enemy Of Virtue
• When we were humble it helped us grow up & built strong relationships as a result •
In that sense I’d say throwing the paper brought family and friends closer together. Focused on the mission. Under pressure. With some risk and some loud voices. Always with a satisfaction of delivering the paper on time and intact. Because if you didn’t, you’d hear about. You’d pay for it in lost revenue. You did not have time to waste on rework. Meeting the challenge to get it done fast and well was very satisfying.
The rural routes were brutal. You had to find the address and make sure none were missed. Even in the fog and the rain. There was no GPS or Google maps just determination to get the job done and tempers flared if we ever had to backtrack cause it made the day longer.
Still the hard working people and family values of this county and our small town remain intact. Times have changed but people still have self-reliant families albeit fewer than in the past.
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We have lost our focus on humility which works against unity and maturity.
This is a terrible fact of our modern economics but we remain a family values city and we are always eager to celebrate success and help our neighbors when they need help. Can we melt down the participation trophies and start rewarding real accomplishment again that builds character and teaches empathy through humility?
I see a lot of that entrepreneurial spirit being quenched by to many regulations and safety rules. The bureaucracy is making it progressively harder to be free and succeed in the free market. The reward for those choosing not to work is greater than those choosing to work destroying the work ethic and keeping people poor. Equity and Socialism grind people down and that prideful spirit needs to be defeated again, just like in World War II.
Equity And Socialism Grind People Down
I see a lot of that entrepreneurial spirit being quenched by to many regulations & safety rules.
Entrepreneurs are rarer with so many barriers to success today. People in our city now have to get a permit for a yard sale?
Even the church has to ask for permission to have a car wash to raise money for charity. Imagine that. Churches recognized in a primary role as charities are required to get permission from the city to have a car wash for charity?
I’m thinking some of our allergies are self-inflicted as the government passes out EBT cards to anyone claiming they are allergic to work. I do see some rather industrious folks with food trucks and mini roadside swap meets. I think that’s because this is one of the few areas not yet regulated or choked to death by a swollen tongue of socialism.
