FARM WORK HAS NEVER BEEN EASY

As we all know, many of California's farm workers are illegal immigrants. This summer has been especially hot, causing farm workers to die in record numbers. Yet there seems to be no shortage of illegals willing to take these jobs, which are very difficult at the best of times. No one forces them to come to America to take these jobs.

My mother, on the other hand, grew up on a south Texas farm where the whole family had to work to survive. As a little girl she and her sisters picked cotton in the heat with her only shade the bonnet and loose clothing that left only her hands uncovered. They had to be ever vigilant for rattlesnakes sheltering in the shade of the cotton plants – if struck they would almost certainly have died. The jagged cotton bolls ripped their fingers if they didn't extract the cotton carefully. They dragged a gradually heavier cotton bag through the field behind them. Life was tough and there was no point in complaining. For some people today the whole point of life seems to be complaining. I'll bet the whiners won't live as long as my mother, who turns 90 in September.