When I was a child, this question was often asked on a farm where my brothers and I worked as day laborers.
It took me years to figure out what it meant, or at least what I thought it meant.
The answer has less to do with logic than with the background and experience of the farmer we work for, who was 69 years old when we met him. To me, he looked as old as anyone could get. Unlike most older people, he was as strong as a piece of steel, with tremendous power in his body. He had knee injuries, so he often leaned on the shoulders of the boys who worked for him whenever he had to walk. He ran a roughly 100-acre farm on the plains beside the Susquehanna River, less than a mile from the site of the Knox coal disaster. Although farm work was hard, it really strengthened and built character. From him we learned to work methodically and safely. We also learned to curse. Our poor Mother was called.
The farmer himself had grown up in a time that had by then vanished. He was a child when the coal mining industry was booming. He often spoke of the size of the railway and coal operations, the enormous machinery employed, the thousands of men who worked above and below ground to extract the coal that filled huge trains to be transported and shipped around the world, the work of many which enriched a few in the process.
Our region has its own distinctive legacy of exploiting massive natural resources resulting in widespread poverty to enrich the people above. This trend has not abated. The median income in northeastern Pennsylvania is very low and we are called “hardscrabble” in the national press. What the hell does that mean?
If it means it’s a tough place to live, then I’m all for it. The character of the average Northeastern Pennsylvanian exhibits a very distinctive toughness. I see it in my clients, my family and my friends. They have a determination and a commitment to family and community that I don’t see in people from other areas. We owe it to our heritage and we should be proud. We need to do everything we can to preserve it for our children and grandchildren.
Do you walk to work or bring your lunch?
If you know the answer, you may be from northeastern Pennsylvania.