Sweat Equity
Remember when the sole purpose of owning a farm was to feed one’s own family? Equity companies had no involvement, and the only investors were the parents and their children who tended the animals. The first hours of the farmer’s morning was spent communing with the cow.
I love this painting by Richard Galusha titled Bessie & Bertha. The artist painted it depicting his grandfather. The image takes me back to when…the American dream of homeownership was rising not shrinking. Patriotism was as thick as corn syrup. A glamourous life meant owning a new tractor. Chickens, a pig, sheep, a goat, a cow and a small plot with seeds enough to plant was the best real estate a person could ever wish for.
Sometimes I wonder whether our country has veered too far from the basics. As Leonardo di Vinci once said “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
Do simple values of honesty and integrity even mean anything to Americans anymore?