The text of the column includes the sentence "Mowing the lawn is like making your bed in public," which confused me. But he's not comparing mowing the lawn to making your bed in public. He's comparing mowing the lawn with making the bed and noting that mowing the lawn, unlike making the bed, is something you do in public. Anyway, various pundits have observed that making one's bed is a good discipline. I would have cited Jordan Peterson, but Johnson cites William H. McRaven, who has a 2017 book, "Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World."
ADDED: Writing this post, I was surprised to discover I already had a William McRaven tag. I published the post and clicked on it and was amused to see that I'd written one blog post with that tag, in 2021, and it contained the line: "By the way, which masculine advice-giver — William McRaven or Jordan Peterson — should get credit for the make-your-bed advice? McRaven!"
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49 comments:
I'm waiting for rain to mow the lawn again - scythe works better in rain. Also the clover flowers are nice to look at.
Shallow analysis in the source. This conflates "middle class" with the nouveau riche and spenders, and does not consider savers and low-profile middle and upper class people. See Mike Rowe's Dirty Jobs -- many were millionaires who lived simply and did the work that others didn't want to do. See Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
Sometimes you want to splurge on a Four Seasons room or a balcony suite on a cruise, and sometimes you want (or must) walk along a simple dirt trail to see nature. Sometimes the same person alternates between the two based on time available, personal interests, and mood.
A poor tropical fisherman spends his days on the beach or at sea, and then cooks and eats his catch for dinner.
A wealthy retiree spends his days fishing and then cooks and eats his catch for dinner.
For generations, teenage boys have gotten their start in commerce by cutting their neighbor's lawns. I was thinking more of how nobody changes their own oil anymore or keeps jumper cables in their trunk. Even though I've never been a car guy, in my youth I did my own auto maintenance, including changing break pads, replacing the starter, etc. Now I don't even replace the headlight.
This was a deliberate decision by carmakers and the government to limit the work you can do on your own stuff.
I do things myself rather than pay someone else not to save money (I'd much rather pay someone and use the freed up time to do something more enjoyable), but because inevitably I am disappointed in the quality of other people's work.
"Still, the more our society monetizes every aspect of life, to include the empty seats in our cars and the empty beds in our houses, the more necessary it is to undertake work for the pleasure and dignity of the work itself. Our only relationship to work cannot be as a cog in a financial machine."
Sounds like somebody is overthinking things. Most people work in order to pay the rent and put food on the table. Simple as that.
Ah more pseudo news to digest and debate. Pass.
I pay a Mexican illegal alien $20 to mow my lawn twice a month ($40 total). It takes him about an hour by the time he finishes edging. With that $20, he can't even go to Publix and buy a single ribeye steak.
Thanks to the Democrats, we have modern day slavery. For less than the price of a meal, I can take advantage of our new imported slave population. Ones that aren't demanding reparations, so that right there is a bonus.
Of course, I don't put it that way. I say instead that I'm a "job creator." Like Joe Biden does to thunderous media applause.
Thank you Democrats, I raise my glass to you and toast: "To Human Misery!"
OMG could it be true that men need work to structure their lives. Now what will we do with Biden’s 20 million open border invaders. They will do all our yard work and make our beds. We are become worthless.
Very few people where I live (Hollywood, FL) mow their own lawn.
I do it because a) I save a lot of money, b) I do a far better job than a lawn service, and c) it is useful, fairly rigorous exercise. Seven months out of the year I mow twice a week, five months once a week.
I used to compare it to pushing a blocking sled around for an hour. If you've played football, you know what that's like. But then I got a self propelled mower, making it - if still not easy - much more tolerable for this old man.
I also feel uneasy paying somebody to do something I can do. Somehow, it doesn't seem right.
Rich enough to afford cars AND (part-time) servants. Feels like winning.
Mowing my lawn is therapeutic. It gets me out of the house and away from the wife and kids for a few hours and presents a decent excuse to drink a few yuenglings slightly before noon on a Saturday or Sunday.
My wife is mystified. "We don't do that ourselves" in Porto Allegre, she says. My rider doesn't work as well as it used to, but I refuse to upgrade because the extra hour it takes for me to cut is an extra hour of bliss where the baby isn't crying or I'm not doing laundry.
We pay a "poop lady" to pick up dog poop in our back yard. That must be the height of luxury.
A man wrote that.
Whether all his ideas and tangents made sense (not on first pass), I appreciate that fundamental fact. Harder than ever to find one in the press. Almost impossible in the MSM. Good work, Rob. Or Tom.
Nice to know that how people live changes as the material circumstances in which they live their lives change, with one of those circumstances being a person's age.
I mow my own lawn, its good exercise.
My great grandmother always let out empty rooms in her home to help make ends meet. This is not a new idea, nor a bad one.
I seem to remember some general commencement speech saying make your bed. The speech went viral in the conservative sphere. Maybe it McRaven. That name sounds like a general’s name.
How much, is YOUR time worth? $20/hr? more?
how long does it take, to mow your lawn?
how long does it take, to book a flight? WHO would you pay to do that FOR you?
The Real Question is: Why to people spend time and gas driving to a gym; where they walk on a treadmill?
Is your neighborhood THAT dangerous that you won't walk on your sidewalks?
"................, you know she bound to put a blanket on my bed."
In memory of Roe, Roe, Roe your baby... Keep women affordable, available, and taxable, and the "burden" of evidence sequestered in sanctuary States.
That said, the misalignment noted in the publication is exemplary of the conflict between men and women who lack maturity, between children who share responsibility in order to shift responsibility.
Whoever said, “you’ve made your bed, now lie in it,” did not anticipate the inveterate liar.
Read the column, and I'm still confused by what he means by your blog title. Nowadays, you can book your own travel, but the best practice is still to let your agent do it. The best you can do is match their prices, and they have access and knowledge to the best deals.
Now, it is true that as you rise in class, the less you rely on trading favors with neighbors and buying people to do the landscaping. You have less need for neighbors because you can afford it.
But then, as a black man in a majority white neighborhood in an upper-class neighborhood, I can understand why he'd want to conform to his racist neighbors' expectations.
I'm going to stockpile a couple of gas lawnmowers. The gas mowers are going to be illegal in a few years and the battery powered ones are trash.
I like to mow my 2 acre lawn out in the country. With a zero turn riding mower and a few Coronas, it's kind of fun. What I don't like is the trimming with a weed wacker or a hand trimmer.
Two, soon hopefully three, houses. Mow twice a year. Period. Partner wanted me to mow here in MT when the grass was maybe 6” high. Nope. You want a lawn, then we can play that game. Some of the neighbors have them. I hate mowing the lawn. Ours is natural grass. We can cut it when her ex has his hay cut - 2-3 times a year. Little dog loves it - she can sneak around a bit, then rear up on her hind legs to see better. The deer have come down, and prefer the grass long. Besides, the long grass covers the pine cones. Our AZ house has a small, xeriscaped front, that needs weeding in the spring, and a fully bricked backyard. Cost some, but worth the not mowing.
I mowed the lawn from the time I was 9/10 until I was maybe 16. I was oldest, so mowed it longer. Youngest only had to do it a couple years. Every other week, for maybe 5 months. Then, I had lawns for maybe 5 years as an adult. Worst was summers in Austin, where my large backyard was full of fire ant colonies. It was like playing whack-a-mole. I would attack a colony, and find it had moved 10’ the next week. Took several years to get rid of them.
We are at a place where we should be getting a maid in every week. Nine months ago, our daughters decided to get it done. Hasn’t happened. Need to remind them. Just like my mother, my partner figured not doing her own housework somehow diminished her femininity. Or some such nonsense. But she doesn’t get it done. I sneak dusting, with a feather duster, after she has gone to bed, because I don’t do it right. But she doesn’t do it at all. Have you ever seen a house, on a gravel road, with a couple years of dust everywhere? We are planning on replacing the carpeting downstairs here with wood this year, that matches the rest of the downstairs. What she isn’t thinking about, is that both her kids have Rhombas (etc), and they will keep the floors in both houses clean. Still need a maid though.
I pay someone to mow my lawn, so it looks great. I'm not interested in WaPo's idea of virtue signaling by mowing my own lawn to show I have the character to do it. My parents took care of that when I was younger, and it motivated me to get a better job than journalist.
I always laugh at the Admiral McRaven speech, because of course he had to give that lecture to the graduates of UT Austin. Down the road, the Corps at Texas A&M teaches cadets to make their bed every day starting at Freshmen Orientation Week. That culture bleeds into the rest of the student body.
"My great grandmother always let out empty rooms in her home to help make ends meet."
So did mine. People were civilized back then. You never know what you'd get now. No shame, no decorum, and always with the fancy excuses.
I have often thought that my dream job would be driving the Zamboni at Rangers games. You perform solo in front of 20,000 people, there is a certain amount of artistry involved, you can see where you've been, and you know when you're done. For most office jobs, your desk looks about the same when you leave as it did when you came in.
Mowing the lawn is the average man's equivalent of driving the Zamboni.
I still mow my own lawn, and I haven't flown on my own dime for almost a decade.
" You perform solo in front of 20,000 people, there is a certain amount of artistry involved..."
The most interesting performance I've seen was at a Kings game at the Long Beach arena, before the Forum was completed. The driver started out along the boards and instead of peeling off and going down the center of the ice after he's done half the rink, he continued all the way around along the boards. He proceeded to do ever-smaller loops until the zamboni couldn't make a sharp enough turn. After that, he was back and forth all over the place trying to finish.
I heard somewhere that people in the middle class pay for things they used to do personally and personally do the things they used to pay for."
The author seems not to have heard of the intarwebz, which make travel planning vastly easier than 20 years ago.
My wife loves yard work, and does it all.
I do pretty much all the work on the cars. It makes possible economically keeping cars for over 20 years. Our oldest is now 17. We got rid of its predecessor at 24. Add to that carpentry, painting, electrical, and plumbing.
All of which is a good part of why we can afford to, but don't, pay people to do those things.
My dad the finance manager enjoyed mowing the lawn so I didn’t do it as a kid. I didn’t own any lawn until a few years ago and it isn’t much. I could get one of those roomba mowers but I have gardeners tend flower beds for the women in the family so I talked them into mowing it…
Meh. The lawn, the shrubs, the garden, constitute a hobby of sorts. Plus, there's the whole man-against-nature challenge, Nature inevitably wins in early August but the fight begins anew every March. I can't imagine paying someone else to fight the battle.
One area is cooking. Many rich retirees likely give up on the kitchen in preference to restaurant cooked meals.
Even the younger set appears to love having other people cook and deliver their food to them rather than cook themselves. Such a simple thing but can't be bothered. (Not to mention having little income but spending extra $ on the delivery of fast food.)
As far as chores go, remember inside chores. A man retires and has a lot less work to do. But his wife continues to cook three meals a day, do laundry, dust and vacuum. She has as much work as ever unless he steps in and starts helping around the house and/or is willing to pay for a maid service a couple of times a month.
I love working outside in a garden and power tools make up for aging. Die, you weeds. I can't stoop over but here comes Mr. Edger and his fraternal twin, Mr. Weedwhacker. You're gone!
To a guy, changing the sheets is about as often as mowing the lawn.
Now that I’ve stopped and thought about it.
Way back when I had to replace a sliding glass door in our kitchen. Money was tight so I decided to install it myself. In July. In the St Louis area. I took out the old door and frame and was struggling with the new door. I realized I was in over my head, looked around the kitchen and I didn't see anyone else who could finish it so I powered through it. Several years later with a larger bank account and budget, we replaced the tile floor I put in after I did the door (we used seconds from Hood's outlet-dirt cheap for a reason) and one guy who was looking at the work to give us a bid said, "I can understand why you want to replace the door- it looks like who ever put it in didn't know what they were doing. " I looked him dead in the eye and said, "No, he didn't but he tried real hard and the damn thing has worked for the last 15 years." He said, "I'm sorry, it was you, wasn't it?": I told him no problem, and assuming you know what you are doing and give us a fair bid, you can take care of it." He got the job, and he told me after it was all done he understood why I had trouble, (other than the obvious lack of carpentry skills). The opening wasn't anywhere near square and he ended up rebuilding the back wall. I still do a lot around the house, but as my knees and hands get more and more useless, I pay professionals to do the work, especially when it is electrical or something that requires a good finish. Besides, I don't want to leave too much money to my kids. I worked hard to save it and want to enjoy it while I can.
The year before Covid, we went to Italy for just shy of a month. We had a friend in the Naples area so we based out of his place. No travel agents, no itinerary, and a schedule that only revolved around getting bask to the airport for our return flight. It was great, and of course, having a friend there to give us advice was helpful, but by and large once we left his place, we were on our own, including going to the wrong train station to get back to Rome for our flight. But it all worked out because all trains in Italy lead to Rome. We booked our first and probably last cruise thru a travel agent. The trip was delayed two years and the agent took care of all the details. We finally got out, and ended up getting covid. She worked her butt off to help us, and ultimately, we busted our hotel quarantine and rented a car to drive back home. It was hard enough with her helping, it would have been a nightmare on our own. If we do travel internationally again, I think I'll use the agent to book the flights and maybe a hotel or two, but do the rest on our own.
That was a pleasant article. I get some satisfaction from doing my yard at 70. The 14-month Texas drought nearly killed it but it's coming back. I was amused about his neighbor slipping into the vernacular upon seeing his HBCU license plate holder. I think I could still do a passable (well, you ain't a Yankee) Redneck chat, push come to shove. Potentially useful for southern travel.
There are interesting comments here about lifestyles of Althouse commentators, but to focus on the issue raised by the post: We hire people to do things that we either (a) can't do, or (b) don't want to do -- IF WE CAN AFFORD IT.
When my (first) wife and I planned our first trip to Europe in the mid'70's, we had no good source of current, reliable information about hotels in London and Paris (I don't count Orwell), but the travel agent who had an office in the lobby of my office building did. Then came the internet. The travel agent is gone. I can plan international (soon Interplanetary?) trips on my own. I can afford to pay someone to mow my lawn, which I don't like to do. Isn't that win-win?
Witness said...
Rich enough to afford cars AND (part-time) servants. Feels like winning.
Have we returned now that a century has passed? Frederick Allen Lewis wrote in, I believe 'The Big Change', about those big houses just outside downtown where the professors and the like lived and could have a couple immigrant domestic servants, until the passage of the Income Tax cut into their household budget.
"My great grandmother always let out empty rooms in her home to help make ends meet."
My maternal grandparents, who lived about 2 blocks from the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, made their bedroom in the basement of the house where they had raised 4 children and rented the bedrooms upstairs to graduate students, who were referred to as "the roomers."
My grandmother rented out rooms in the 2nd floor of her house in Davenport and yes, she referred to the residents as "the roomers". She set up two living rooms with TVs on the ground floor, one for the roomers which we weren't supposed to go into.
I'm glad that at some point in my life I mowed the lawn, changed the oil in my car, did some woodworking, etc. I think all that is character building. But that doesn't mean I haven't earned the right to pay someone else to do those things now. Even so, I enjoy some D-I-Y tasks at home and would be embarrassed to pay some other guy to do them, notwithstanding my wife's urging me to do so. She doesn't understand the male psyche.
My maternal grandparents, who lived about 2 blocks from the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, made their bedroom in the basement of the house where they had raised 4 children and rented the bedrooms upstairs to graduate students, who were referred to as "the roomers.
Married graduate student housing was always the worst. The students trying to get a 0.05 p value and the wives trying to help where they don't understand the thesis.
"My maternal grandparents... to graduate students, who were referred to as "the roomers.""
The roomers were always single women — very quiet and polite.
Unless specified service fees are added, people do not pay travel agents to book travel.
Suppliers pay the agents commissions to sell their product (not a bad deal considering they have a huge well-qualified sales force they do not pay unless a sale is produced). The suppliers pay no office overhead, insurance or benefits and are not encumbered by the whims of HR and DEI departments.
When a traveler books online, he/she almost never sees complete inventory of rooms, flights, seats, etc. And, of course, the traveler has no advocate if something goes sideways - the supplier is usually the sole authority on compensation for problems they caused.
The commission the supplier does not have to pay an agent rarely results in a lower price for the traveler. That "saved" expense goes straight the the suppliers bottom line.
If you REALLY want to save $$$ and can tolerate uncertainty (less if you do a LOT of research), skip the online bookers next time. Just show-up at a small privately owned hotel and negotiate. The hotel typically pays online bookers 10 percent, so that money's in play. Also, depending on the location, the private owner may register you "unofficially" (meaning the 15-20 percent room tax is also in play. It's amazing how often a spotless, quiet, well-located room can go from an online 'discounted' rate of, say, $130 to less than $100.
I could tell you even more (especially about cruise fares/discounts/insurance)... but, then, I'd have to send a bill :-)
Most hard-core online bookers I know are just control freaks who are fond of waiting 'on-hold' for long periods of time. Last year a regular client apologized for not booking an Ireland/England family trip because his daughter insisted she could find the very best deals.
Turns out there was a teensie misunderstanding about a.m. vs. p.m. re flight schedules. My friend had to rebook six flights at much higher rates. Ouch!
Happy trails!
Back in the 1950s as kids, we used to make money mowing lawns. That was before gasoline or electric lawnmowers of course.
But as we get older, we might prefer to pay the kid down the block to do it for ourselves.
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