My summer movie continues with a ride on the famous Highway 1 along the California coast, from Crescent City to San Diego.
One thing I noticed was all the strawberry fields. About every kind of fruit and vegetable was being grown in central California. Being fond of strawberries, I found myself having them every day.
I also noticed that it was time to harvest, with fields full of our friends from south of the border. Migration workers were helping harvest to fill our fetish for the berry. I stopped and ask the foreman of one of the fields how many Americans work in the fields.
“Not very many,” he answered. “Every now and then one stumbles by but no one wants to work. We have to hire migrant workers to get the job done. Every now and then a mother with children will stop by and pay to pick a pail. But they can’t keep up with the demand.”
We want our berries but no one will pick them.
I have a solution. (No surprise, right? 😉 )
Lately, I’ve noticed on the TV we have a lot of people protesting. There are many people mad at many things. I heard someone say, “a lot of people who were never slaves are protesting against a lot of people who were never nazis – about statues the Democrats erected, and are now suddenly ashamed of.”
So here’s my idea… Why not make a rule that for every day of protest you have to commit to a day picking strawberries with someone you are protesting against?
Several things would be accomplished…
1) You’d be paid to protest. (They’d pay you to pick berries – and supply the gloves and pail. You provide sunscreen, a broad-brim hat, and a stool.) Since the protesters would be mixed together, you could meet the person picking one row over. Kind of a meet and greet to talk out your differences and find common ground. Meet in the middle.
2) It would help with the immigration debate and lower unemployment. We’d be using American citizens and giving jobs to people who need work. (Don’t worry, we’d still need lots of our friends to the South, since I wonder of the protesters could handle the work for more than a day.)
3) If this idea works, we could have congress give it a go. They’d have a chance to talk out their differences and find solutions. I suggest alternating one day of Congressing and one day of picking.
Come to think of it, maybe we could all stand to eat more strawberries and do more picking.
Now, don’t thank me for this idea, if you like it, just send to a friend who could use it.
Happy Trails!