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Description
This is an idea I have had for while, so I apologize for another wallpaper image; but it is heartfelt and something I simply cannot replicate with props. I don't wish to cite opinion, or point blame; there's more than enough to go around and I'm certain we all have our own perspective on the causes.
I frequently drive by the old steel mill when I go back home to visit my mother(not the mill in the photo). It's the same mill my grandfather, father, and uncles worked at. We were a steel family. My great grandfather even died in a Pennsylvania steel mill accident, so we understood the good and bad of the industry. The stories of tragedy weren't forgotten, and I learned about them from them all years later after the plant had closed. It was probably best I didn't know about them when I was younger.
Regardless, those jobs were hard, dangerous, and dirty; but as some who labored there would tell you: If they could go back and relive every moment, they would in a heartbeat. It was the toughest, dirtiest job you could ever love.
I'm personally fascinated by old buildings; whether farm houses or steel mills, they interest me. I almost get emotional about the industrial sites though. These are places people worked and, in some cases, died. They are not just relics of a forgotten time, not eyesores or blemishes on the landscape; they are our history, and were once the means which drove us to prosperity as they produced the elements which built a modern nation. They are also monuments to a time when men worked to support their families; concentrated on keeping up with the bills, not the Joneses, and life seemed simpler. They were also the means which allowed us to come to the aid of nations in the second world war.
My father always used to say, we work to develop a means to make our jobs and lives easier; and all we do is create machines to take our jobs and develop machines to make us busier when we're not on the job. He was so right, and as I learned when I went to college; we developed these "tools" to supposedly give us an advantage over the competition; but all we did is shorten the time we have with family as we are often more reachable to the needs of the job than ever before.
Anyway, my point to the image is to illustrate the tragedy that we have let manufacturing get away from us. For not everyone is college material; yet they wish to have a job which doesn't require a degree. These factories were not just sources of pollution; but for millions, they were the difference between them providing a better life to their children and teaching them the concept of work/job and self fulfillment versus a life of hopelessness and dependence. For some back then, these jobs were a means to a new direction in life, and for others they were careers. Regardless, there aren't enough of them now, and the loss of these jobs is a terrible loss that today's and future generations will likely never understand.
Thanks for taking a look. I really appreciate it. Hope you all had a nice weekend, and good night.
Comments (9)
Faemike55
The image says so much at first glance and it is good your narrative adds a powerful weight to that image do not apologize for your heart, for it speaks for you.
pimanjc
I couldn't agree with you more about the loss of manufacturing jobs in America. Without a manufacturing base [production of goods], the various sevice industries, tech industries, and financial institutions are just building money on money premise, and will never improve the lot of the common man [woman] as you described above. My family was split between "blue collar" and "white collar" workers. They both were able to meet the American Dream because of the then, ballance. I'm afraid my grand children may not have as good of choices in their future. Wonderful art and narrative. JC
Richardphotos
outstanding render and capture. I worked as a draftsman in a huge steel fabrication company
wensar2
as long as greed drives those at the top who already have most of everything.. this country and eventually every country will slide into a morass of poverty and segregation..we bring it on ourselves by voting into power those who continue to take from us to give to them.. don't blame the slave-master if you keep handing him the whip.. Monica..
Raages
One can hear the silence in the image. Well done.
OkrimSlava
very well done.
Cyve
Fabulous decor and marvelous character. Outstandingly don e!!!
giulband
Very fine and creative image !!
goodoleboy
Stellar POV and color in this rendering of you, standing amidst what was once a thriving industry, in the cool concept of the Industrial Age. Manufacturing, as you so eloquently described it above, has just about gone the way of the horse and buggy in this country. Converting iron to steel is and was dirty, hot and dangerous. Plus now we have robots to do a lot of the repetitive work.