Stem to Stern: The Torch
I was fortunate enough to see Jimmy Webb with my daughter, Erin, at the Kravis center a few weeks ago. A lot of people, including Erin, are not familiar with his name, but they know his work. He wrote some of the best ballads and biggest hits for entertainers like Glen Campbell, The Fifth Dimension, Art Garfunkel, The Highwaymen and scores of others. The show was amazing. Just Jimmy and a Grand piano in a small, intimate setting. At one point, in between songs, he talked about how the great songwriters of the American Songbook and the Boomer generation have passed or will soon be leaving this life and the torch must be handed to a new generation. “As it should be,” he declared. As he spoke, I thought of all the crap on the pop charts these days and wondered if that torch had enough flame left to burn off the sewage in today’s entertainment industry. And then I thought of the veteran craftsmen in our industry. They too, must attempt to pass the torch but it seems as if there are very few who are willing to carry it the distance and keep the fire burning.
God hasn’t stopped making talented people. Babies are born with artistry DNA every minute of every day. Then why are we so short on talent in the trades? The answer to that lies in our culture. People are no longer steered towards the trades at a young age and may be completely unaware of their ability. Certainly, we over-emphasized the need for everyone to get a college degree. We taught our children that they would be less worthy of respect and social stature if they lacked that certification. We taught them that people who worked with their hands were evolutionarily inferior to those who pushed paper, keyboards, or commodities. Of course, that concept is ridiculous but there is something else going on. Our culture, quite simply, has something against hard work or, work in general.
Two people of equal size, strength and intelligence. One gets out of bed early, shows up on time and works hard to produce something by the end of the day. The other, sleeps in, shows up late, spends the day avoiding exertion and complains about how hard it is. Again, from the outside, these guys look exactly the same. The difference is on the inside. They are built with the same parts and are wired from the same factory schematic. It’s not in the brain. It’s not in the muscle mass. The difference is in the heart. Heart is derived from nurture, not nature. As the old Adler and Ross song from the Broadway show Damn Yankees goes, ”You gotta have heart.” Who or what has ripped the heart out of our culture? Was it Doctor Spock? Is it fast-food? Is it the Radical Left? Is it MAGA Republicans? Nope, it ain’t none of that.
Fifty years ago, most trade-based businesses had a crew of their own on the payroll. At Rybovich, we had our own crew of carpenters, mechanics, electricians and painters at our old yard and still, somehow, we maintain a talented, loyal crew today. Back then, my father-in-law, Dick Owen, owned and operated a construction business with his own laborers and craftsmen as well. The crews consisted of men and women who were talented tradesmen and had a sense of pride in workmanship and loyalty to a team. Most businesses in the trades these days are eliminating crews of their own and are developing a sub-contractor based business model. What’s going on? Motivation, accountability and the lack thereof. The subs quote a price and a completion date and must deliver on that to get paid. For most businesses, the old model of an in-house crew, simply does not work anymore.
The scarcity of qualified help with an old-school work ethic has business owners struggling with non-productive crews of new people who are content to coast through the work week with no concern about how much they accomplish. In addition to the lack of productivity, there is the most sinister of cultural influences, the entitlement component. I remember a time when young guys hired on and took great interest in the tools associated with their work. They meticulously assembled an arsenal of chisels, planes, brushes, wrenches, etc. depending on the crew to which they were assigned, and took great pride in the use and maintenance of these implements. These days, most expect the employer to provide these items and they become another entitlement, of little value to the employee, and are treated as such. I was raised by, and cut my teeth working for, members of the greatest generation. We were taught to take care of our employees and consider them family. If someone needed help at work or at home, we were there with whatever was required. Fifty years ago, a hand-out or a hand-up was accepted only as a last resort. There was pride in slaying the demons of adversity on one’s own terms. Today, that hand-out is expected and relied upon as a necessary part of existence. What’s that word that politicians throw around these days? “Existential.” Hand-outs have become an existential part of employment. You owe me, dude. Fix my problems.
We have become advocates for a culture of guaranteed outcome and the law of supply and demand is biting us in the ass. When you hand everyone things in which they have no investment, the value of those things crashes for all. When everyone is handed the same lunchbox, life all tastes the same and there can be no celebration for accomplishment. Boredom reigns and we begin to idolize the graceless and lazy while celebrating the crazy. We teach our children that hate is a function of pigment. The fools that work hard and accumulate prosperity are privileged and considered evil. The result of all this is as predictable as the decadence of a Super Bowl halftime show. Reading, science and math scores tank, pride in workmanship evaporates, and productivity plummets. It is no wonder that we can’t find people who want to work hard for something of value. Everyone deserves everything. We have torn the heart out of life and if your heart is not in it, your hands become idle which, it has been said, is the devil’s workshop.
The old craftsmen are leaving us, folks. The torch is slipping from their bruised and weathered hands. When the government tells us that, “productivity is up,” you’d best beware. That’s about as accurate of an assessment as, “I did not have sex with that woman,” or “there is no inflation,” or “the vaccine will keep you from getting sick.” Productivity is not up. It is at an all-time low. We need to teach the young and the strong that hard work is a wonderful, rewarding, respectable calling and that quality is not just a marketing slogan. God continues to produce good people every day. In each, he places a heart. We can nurture that gift or arrest it, all in the way we teach our children. Our culture needs to awaken to this and raise hard-working, free thinking individuals to save this great nation. We need people with heart. Like Jimmy Webb said: “The torch must be handed to a new generation.” Grab that torch, boys and girls. Without that flame, you’ll be stumbling around in darkness. And, rest assured, there will be plenty of equity in darkness.
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This article originally appeared in the August 2023 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
Source: https://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/column/stem-to-stern-the-torch
