Desperation hung in the air. The men were hungry and anxious for they knew not what was to come of the future. Basic needs had been stripped bare. And there were so many of them seeking jobs. Where would there be a place that they could all find work and at least care for themselves with some kind of dignity?
The Hoover Dam linked these desperate men by providing a big job, which in turn made the men feel not just important but real again. For many, there was nothing more they needed than to believe again in the future, and all they could see of the future was having a job and a paycheck. Dreams of anything else were sheer fantasy, like feelings of love without anything to love.
The dam today is a powerful medium, a message of what men can do when they have no choice but to work as if in a fairy tale. To blast through rock, to dig and shovel, then pour that holy concrete day in and day out, it was the hardest work there could be. Yet a job that provided renewed pride just for the opportunity to be working aside other men towards an end. The outcome, the finished job, the happily ever after.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
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