I read left wing articles – and I tapped into one that explained all of the problems the working class has come from billionaires. The author really thought Elon Musk caused his problems. I’m working on my problems – and none of the problems I am correcting were caused by billionaires. Bezos, Soros, Elon, Trump – no problem. As I work at remodeling and repairing the old service station, I encounter problems – and most of them the results of poor workmanship and deferred maintenance. As I clean up the woods – a necessary task – and turn blowdown into lumber and firewood, there are problems. Those problems are a result of high winds, and deferred thinning. Again, the billionaires have nothing to do with my problems.
The first problem to solve in the old service station was the roof. You can’t repair a building when the roof leaks. After I got a new roof installed, I’m tackling other problems – often the result of attempts to remodel things without fixing the roof first. Dad was blind. His disability made it difficult to understand how the repairs he had hired done were more cosmetic – briefly cosmetic – than long-term structural. In the front, I have a thick cement sidewalk, 2 inches higher than the floor inside. Installed with the idea that a sidewalk would be a good thing, but without remembering that water runs down hill. So I’ll be leaning on a jackhammer this summer to solve that problem – and the problem wasn’t created by a billionaire. Believe me – it won’t be solved by a billionaire on that jackhammer, either.
I’ve listened to the many reasons that the old high school needs to be taken down and replaced. First is a bad roof. Sounds familiar – but on the old service station, I could make the decision to pay for a new roof. My old high school doesn’t have one individual who can make that decision. It has a small group that share the belief that it’s easier to pass a new levy every generation than maintain their buildings.
The walls of my old service station were insulated with R-8 insulation. Like they say of my old high school, it needs a frame inside. Within that new frame I will put more insulation. On a building where I can make the call, the new framing comes from the blowdown and wind snapped Douglas Fir. On a building where the decision is made by a group, the decision is to ask the community to vote for a new levy. Neither problem is created by a billionaire – rather by maintenance too long deferred, and repairs poorly done. Neither solution comes from the billionaire bench.
The billionaires have their own problems. I have my own, and some are problems that I can solve. I look at my old high school – where similar problems exist, problems that will not be solved because the solution – timely maintenance and repairs – is too difficult for a group elected by acclamation to accomplish. For some reason, it’s easier to agree that the job of repairs and maintenance is just too big – and, after all, you can take a levy to the voters. Or wait for a billionaire to write a check.
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