"Dateline Normal,Mn.: "Good Help is Hard to Find"----FICTION

Recently in the newspaper, and yes even locally, I have heard that there is an intense crisis of employment----and that "Good Help is Hard to Find." I have heard this described as a need for more "Workforce development." I have also heard from some folks of the conservative persuasion that describe an intense need for free borders so that their domestic needs can be met by folks that are priced...well...at precisely where all good help is priced it seems....very low....and the lower the better....and of course always cash...no checks and receipts please.

I have in summary been just a litle bewildered by all the discussion---is there really a shortage of character in our workforce, a shortage that might necessitate more extensive curriculum development in "character education" that would follow a complicated curriculum course....of course only after we could all agree on what "character" consisted of?

Whenever I get a little bewildered....and I have been bewildered a lot lately, I just give my old friend Herman, the countryboylawyer a call in Normal, Mn. . Herman is a real estate attorney who also serves on the Normal Minnesota School Board. I just wondered what he thought of this difficult problem that we were having.

"Herman what do you do about the crisis of "Good help?"

Herman let out a huge bellylaugh. 'Shucks, Wolfman (that's what he always called me) up here in Normal, Mn., we live the natural life. All employment is good, and both employees and employer understand what is required. It is just a lot simpler here. There is just fishing, and cutting bait. Usually, you fish and then eat the fish fresh, which is best, and then in the natural process of things, if ya want to eat, ya have to clean the fish. That's just the way it is. And there is a real dignity in controlling all the elements of production from catch to eating.

Herman went on: "The problem that I see in the big city situation is that over the years we have been cut off from all that is a whole, all that is a unified circle of production and consumption---and whenever that happens, people feel unhappy---vaguely unsatisfied. That is what I call the "Widget Problem." They feel out of sorts when they are just in a little part of the widget production. Oh yes. You can sugarcoat it and pump em up and tell them they are part of a team....rah....rah...rah,, but in the end, they know. "

Then Herman laughed. "It's kinda like just breathing, Wolfman. Ya breathe in and then ya breathe out. Ya don't delegate the exhale. The contractor might screw up the project and you would die. That is why the Lord put you in charge of both the inhale and exhale. "

In short, Wolfman, "Good help" is what people call help that is cheap. Really....good help is like good employers, it respects the total cycle of production and gives to dignity to all. And---it is pretty rare. I guess that is why I love fishing. "

Well. That was not the answer that I was hoping for. And it was most distressing that I did not have a boat and motor other than the rentals, but ....I guess it did describe why I always needed the getaway to Normal, Mn. I had thought it was the Hideaway Lounge....and the great coffee at Betty Lou's...but I guess it was all the "good help" that I fished with that was special.