It’s now September. All the media are harping on the return to school.

Summer’s over, vacation is over, the fun ends, time to get back to work.

I was in the “transportation” business. The organization I worked for did not take Summer off. We built, repaired, restored and maintained. This work started pretty well as soon as the frost was out of the ground and will continue until pavement temperature is too low for asphalt to stick.

I will admit to being a CBC listener, but I’ve never had Burkenstocks, rarely eat granola and am not a leftist leaning pinko. However, CBC radio (I get TV over the air; their TV signal doesn’t reach here), CTV news and local press have been going on and on about getting back to school and getting back to real work.

Is it because the chattering class has really done nothing but go to school (or worked in an environment that apes school).

Think about it. Journalism is now taught in school. There is little evidence of the up through the ranks reporter. Those days are over. The prospective journalist now attends elementary, secondary school and either college or university. They all operate on the Fall, Winter, Spring model. Tasks are listen, do assignments and take the summer off. Work becomes listen, do assignments (write, produce, report) and when summer comes take vacation or cover people vacationing.

If the work of those of us keeping things going gets any publicity, it’s for the inconvenience presented to vacationing traffic.

Professional Engineers have a ceremony that taps into a poem by Rudyard Kipling. The Poem is “the Sons of Martha” (see http://www.online-literature.com/donne/920/ ). I’ve always liked the first and last verses.

There is more to life than school. It’s OK to report it, but please, some balance. There are lots other things/events going on.

The Plaidneck