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I worked on my grandfather's tobacco farm from the time I could do something useful...As I got older, baled hay fro my great uncle, and being permitted to operate equipment was a rite of passage which not only gave us incentive to be responsible youngsters, but taught us valuable skills which have proven useful since in other fields.

Not to mention instilling a work ethic, that generally, the more you did, the greater the reward...as well as ultimately a dependence on Divine Providence.

Is 'Hand me the 9/16 wrench.' going to become a crime instead of an opportunity to teach fractions?

“I just thought I’d mention
my grandma’s old age pension
is the reason why I’m standin’ here today.

I got all my country learnin’
milkin’ and a churnin’,
pickin’ cotton, raisin’ hell and bailin’ hay.”

“Fast Train to Georgia” by Billy Joe Shaver

I worked on a number of farms as a kid. The most onerous thing I did was picking the dead chickens at a chicken farm.

Didn't do me a bit of harm. In fact, I now have skills that I'm sure all of the metrosexual, citified, neutered bunch of guys I work with wish they had.

Guy I work with recently just paid his lawnmowing service (pay to get your lawn mowed? but that's another story....) 100 bucks to trim a small embankment at his house.

Thinking that maybe his trimmer was broken, or he didn't have one, I offered to let him borrow mine. His reply? "Nah, mine is just fine. I just don't like to do it."

I've seen the "embankment" he had "trimmed". Might take me 15 minutes to do, if I worked slowly and had a hard time starting my trimmer up. Sez me, I'm in the wrong business.

And....I'm cringing at the thought of telling my uncle (who owned one of the farms I worked on) "Nah, I just don't feel like doing that incredibly simple task. Can I just give someone 100 dollars to do it for me?"