Earning A Living

[Element9]

There are days in radio that are trying, co-workers who can be vexing, situations that are annoying and bosses who are downright aggravating, but how many of us ever started the workday by getting into a cramped tram with twenty other men and going to work two-and-a-half miles below the surface.

I don't think I've read anything as simple yet so profound as the farewell written by a few miners breathing their last, "See you on the other side... it wasn't bad, I just went to sleep." Composed in the bleak bottom of a mineshaft while looking death squarely in the face, the words are an elegant statement of faith and confidence.
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NPR's coverage of the Sago mine tragedy was insightful, tasteful and extremely informative. The reporting, commentary and essays (which can be found on NPR's website) are some of the best radio I've heard in years. I say this not as an advocate or lobbyist for NPR, but of radio and the artform.

As others have said on these boards: Radio will survive the ever increasing competition only by remaining local, live, written, produced and voiced by men and women who live in and participate in the communities served by the stations.

-9-

 

[Radknowski]

> There are days in radio that are trying, co-workers who can
> be vexing, situations that are annoying and bosses who are
> downright aggravating, but how many of us ever started the
> workday by getting into a cramped tram with twenty other men
> and going to work two-and-a-half miles below the surface.
>
Last week, a few guys on the crew were expressing similar thoughts about the adversity of working in a mine. Hanging drywall and ripping out plaster and lath is no day at the beach, but compared to burrowing into the earth, it's not that bad. Even when we're unintentionally huffing paint thinner and solvents, we have the option of walking away and getting some fresh air. Nice post, 9.

 

[Mark_Giardina]

Not only an excellent post but a great reminder how some people actually have it pretty good compared to others.

To me it is barbaric for miners to work under those conditions. Miles below the Earth, in an area so small they can not stand up; breathing in coal dust which eventually could have a negative impact their health.

The young survivor of the recent mining disaster in West Virginia was an electrician by trade. Yet he went to work in the mines because it paid more money. What does that tell you?

People, especially politicians, tell us that the economic conditions in Western New York are anemic compared to other regions of the state and the nation. But it appears we are far better off than our neighbors in West Virginia who have to tunnel miles into the ground to eke out a living.

So the next time you feel like bitching and complaining about your boss or your job, consider those poor souls in West Virginia, and what they had to do just to put food on the table.
<P ID="signature">______________
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted and I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to other people and I expect the same from them".</P>

 

[mike704]

Great comments here....

I have worked in on air in radio and in computer support for most of my life. While he wasn't a miner I tell people my Father actually worked for a living cpmpaired to what I'm doing. My Dad worked for the Erie Lackawanna doing various jobs from clerk to manual labor. The railroad made the last few years very hard for him since the railroad itself was facing hard times from 1962-1965. The old man was tough and stayed with it till he turned 65. Because of this I don't complain, Dad never did.

Mike Miranda son of Carmen