I just ask this question, because from the perspective of suburban NY there are not that many locally raised young men who want to get involved in the trades and physical work. They want to do sports or grow up into white collar jobs that pay well with lots of benefits. Maybe this is a localized thing, with young men in more rural parts willing and able to do physical work, both jobs requiring lots of brute strength and those semi-skilled; tree work, landscaping, masonry, etc..
It's everywhere Tom, even the majority of kids around here in the trades, are weak, fragile minded & overly sensitive. Not exactly the criteria destin to make you successful in a trade.. Granted, certain trades are physically tuff.. but while the physical aspect might have something to do with it, these kids just don't want to work.. Period. They've grown up in a system hearing all about entitlements as if that is standard the world works on & literally think they're owed something... Free College, Free health care, Everyone has a mental health issue even if your fine, Higher minimum wage for minimal effort, Everyone gets a throphy, Everyone has a victim status, Don't stand for the pledge, Don't have to participate in gym class, Masculinity is toxic.. Maybe some of that isn't directly related to your question, but it definatley molds a childs mind in a way where hard physical work & success are unrelated. & It is happening in unicen, in mass, every day you drop your kid off at school.. & more so at colleges.
The turn over at my last tree job was extremely high due to the labor required. Moreover, I also spent a short period of time helping a friend do fall cleanups last year.. About 10.. 20 - 28yr olds, some temporary, some full time lawn cutters.. This my friend, was a real eye opener... Just by luck he had me on the crew & had an easy pruning job that needed to be done & all material had to be lumped out to street.. He had asked me to just take care of it so he could jump start another job with a couple guys. For me & most other tree guys it was a very simple job, backyard cutting, drag overgrown Apple tree limbs out front, clean up, be done... 2hrs Max.. they didn't even have to chip it..
3hrs later... I could not believe the drama, the crying, the attitude & overall weakness exhibited by these fully grown man-children.. The job wasn't even half way done & these guys were literally begging me to STOP CUTTING.. I couldn't believe what i was experiencing.. Honestly, it was like i entered the Twilight zone.
Even worse was my last relationship.. her kids would have get-together's & would just sit around on their phones the whole time not really even acknowledging each other.. & when they did it was conversations about who had more mental health issues & who had to take more pills during the day to be able to endure the hardships of k-12.. Think about that.. kids... 12-16 bragging about how many pills they are prescribed.. When in reality there's nothing wrong with ANY OF THEM! It was really fucking sickening to watch & tough position to be in wanting the kid to be able to succeed some day... Of course none were my kid or kids so i remained silent.
But yeah.. that type of stuff doesn't exactly inspire a drive to want a job in the trades..
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