I agree. We grew up working outside in the garden, planting trees, etc. My parents are well-educated but there were times when my Dad did manual jobs as well to get extra income when needed. We were always taught that there is dignity in all honest work. I have a regular 8-5 office job where I manage in-home caretakers for the elderly. When I am needed or I need a little extra money, I will get overtime hours working with our clients as well. It might not be glamorous but it's a needed job. I have some people who apply and want to work in our office (we don't even need a lot of extra office help) but they don't want to have to provide direct care for clients, I guess because that's the "dirty work." Well guess what - everyone who works in the office is trained on providing direct care and required to work with clients sometimes.
I don't think a lot of people have a realistic idea of all the work that is required to keep us all alive. I remember discussing in a college class and the professor brought up the fact that it's not possible for everyone to have a "white collar" job because the "blue collar" jobs would still need to be done. Some of the students acted like this couldn't possibly be true; they seemed to believe that if everyone went to college and got educated then somehow the need for trash collectors, nursing assistants, farmers, and factory workers would just evaporate like some kind of magic.
