Sounds ideal, doesn't it? Sounds like a Utopia. That's what people have said for every insane advance we've made as humans. You can't stand in the way of progress.
What a stupid idea.
Have you ever heard the legend of Jon Henry? I'm willing to bet you've at least heard the name before.
Historians aren't sure if he was real, as not all of the accounts match up all the way. Whether he was real or not, I can guarantee that his story is based heavily in the truth.
Some legends have Jon Henry as a freed slave who then went to work for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O railway). Others paint him as a freeman who went to work in Virginia cleaning up battlefields after the Civil war, who was then arrested, convicted of stealing, and thrown into Virginia Penitentiary. He was then released into working for the C&O railway instead as a sort of work release program, or so the story goes.
Either way, whether he was a freed slave or a convicted criminal, most agree that he somehow found his way into the employ of the C&O Railway. From there, the legend has him as being the greatest worker they'd ever had. Towering over the heads of the other workers at 6 feet tall (a giant in those days, people were shorter back then) and 200 pounds, he was stronger, faster, and more hardworking than anyone else there.
His role on the railway was said to have been that of a steel driving man. Basically, he had a hammer and a drill, and he would use the hammer to hit the drill drive into metal for the pins used in the railroad. He would also use it for busting through rocks.
The C&O Railway hit a road block. To be precise, they hit a mountain. Rather than go the mile and half around the mountain, which would have cost an exorbitant amount of time and money, they decided to drill straight through the heart.
Digging through the heart of a mountain was not an easy task. Many men lost their lives and were buried in shallow graves near the railroad. But John Henry kept on going, surprising his fellow workers with the speed and determination with which he drove through that mountain.
One day, a merchant showed up to the C&O owners and showed them his steam powered steel driver, which he claimed was not only faster than the men, but cheaper too. The C&O decided to buy the machine, and that's when the real story begins.
Some stories say that John Henry refused to be outdone by the machine, some say the C&O set it up for fun. Either way, John Henry decided to go up against the powerful machine.
The machine took it's mark against John Henry, the Goliath of a man, poised and ready with his hammers. His comrades cheered him on, the sun beat down, and the mark was given for them to start.
The work was hard, hot, uncomfortable. The machine worked tirelessly for 35 minutes, uncaring, unwavering, unstoppable.
John Henry swung his hammer with all that was in him, pouring every ounce of strength, willpower, and determination into his work. As the sweat poured down his back, the cheers of his friends drowned out with the ringing clank of his hammer.
When the time was called, everyone quieted down. The dust settled onto his skin as John Henry stood panting amidst the chiseled rocks. Nearby was the machine that threatened his livelihood.
They checked the machine's progress; a single, nine foot hole.
Everyone stood in disbelief as they found that John Henry had dug not one, but two seven foot holes, totaling 14 feet. He had beaten the machine.
John Henry held his head high as his friends roared their applause. Moments later, the mighty man toppled to the ground, and as they rushed to his side, they found that it was too late. John Henry had died.
It's rumored that they laid him to rest in the sands nearby, perhaps in the cemetery near the state penitentiary, perhaps in just another shallow, unmarked grave. Some say that you can go to the end of that tunnel and hear the sounds of two heavy hammers hitting the stones.
Now, it's unlikely that he was able to beat a machine like that, although I suppose not impossible. The exertion most likely would kill you if your tried. There's no way to prove his existence, but maybe he was a real man, and maybe he really did beat the steam wheel, and maybe his story provided hope for all the men who would shortly be displaced as the Industrial Revolution wore on.
Or perhaps someone made him up. Either way, his spirit, or the spirit that he is meant to portray, lives on in ballads and stories even to this day. His is the tale we've all been afraid of since the Industrial Revolution; that one day the machines will overthrow our jobs, take over our livelihoods, and in the end, be the death of us.
In the memory of John Henry, and all the other that died to build America, let us not tear ourselves apart, but build ourselves into something great. Because a machine can never replace what people can do, we can build, we can conquer, we can be amazing. We can be John Henry, fighting until we die, we can be his friends who cheered him on because we support our fellow Americans.
So please, STOP WITH THE FRICKING HISSY FIT YOU SPECIAL SNOWFLAKES NOBODY OWES YOU ANYTHING. America was and is built on the backs of hard-working men and women who refuse to give up, even when the odds are stacked against us. We are not owed anything, we do not deserve anything, we fight for what is ours and refuse to back down.
We are not flipped cars in the streets over an election that didn't go our way. We are not panic attacks over an imaginary scenario that probably won't happen. We are not angry mobs of sheep who break, steal, hurt, and destroy.
We are democracy. We are freedom. We are hope. We are unity. We are so many things greater than this useless fight. This is America, please, for the love of God and our forefathers, lay down your angry signs and realize that this is not how we do things. If you're gonna fight for something, quit being babies and screaming at the news cameras. Either start the war that you think Trump will lead us to and watch how fast you'll get your butts kicked, or go home, lick your wounds, roll up your sleeves, and get down here in the muck with the rest of us. Spend a few weeks working as hard as some of us do, and maybe you'll realize that life is about more than getting free birth control and $15 an hour minimum wage. It's about more than micro-aggression and cultural appropriation. The reason that previous generations weren't worried about that crap is because they didn't have the modern convenience of wasting all their time with dying their armpit hair (yes that is a real thing). We have too much time to waste, all because our forefathers wanted us to have better lives.
Please, please, please, check your idiot ideas at the door and be a John Henry. Fight against the things that are trying to steal your life, roll up your sleeves and work hard, get dirty, fall into your bed dog tired with a smile on your face. Its the only life worth living.
Cheers!
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