Making Claim

Man has always sought a faster, more efficient way to get a job done. We have invented all matter of machinery to save us from our labors. Ways to plow it, build it, make it or grow it. Ways to increase industry ,to increase profits, and increase our leisure time. And then what do we do with this leisure time ? For some of us we spend it doing the labors we invented machinery to replace. We want things, hand made. Hand made is always the best, isn't it ? Some of us even get jobs depicting the way we used to work. Historical reenactments. 

We do have a tendency to romanticize those bygone occupations. A deep sea whaler for instance. Images of the sea and a mighty struggle with the great beast immediately comes to mind. We forget about the weeks or months that may transpire between those encounters. The crowded, smelly living conditions and boredom. It wasn't a romantic notion to those fellows. It was all about risk and reward. The cowboy ! We have built an entire industry around this occupation. Cowboy, just the word evokes hundreds of images. We think we know the cowboy trade and have glorified it. The reality is much different. Low pay, long hours, extreme discomfort and ever present danger from nature and their fellow man. A glorious occupation ? Not to the cowboy. 

There are some of us that want to cling to those images of the bygone era. We claim, through heritage alone, to be a part of that. Even though we never have worked in that occupation ourselves, we claim that heritage. The slightest connection to that trade will suffice. In some instances just living in a particular area will do. I suppose it has something to do with mystique. 

Those that worked those trades of the past never gave it a thought. They did not think of themselves as anything special or unique. They were just doing their jobs the same way we do ours today. Now if we do things the old fashioned way, ie: by hand, we call ourselves craftsmen. Some even call themselves Artisans. A whole industry is being built around this desire, it is the Do It Yourself industry. How many things do we do ourselves today, that we take great pride in showing off, that was done everyday not so many years ago ? Our ancestors didn't think of it as being handy, but as doing what was necessary. It was just part of the job. The job of living.

What occupation will you claim ? The truth is what occupation will history give you ? Are there any occupations of real adventure left ? Astronaut could fall into that category. Jet fighter pilot. Fishing off the Alaska coast on those ships of the Deadliest catch. Maybe working on an offshore oil rig ? Humm, in thinking about my life and the occupations I have held I'm claiming sailor. From the bay of my youth to the seven seas of the world I have sailed them. Aye, Aye Captain. I claim to know the mysteries of the sea.