As I was glancing through my news feed on Facebook this evening during a study break for finals, I came across your open letter to college students addressing the wussification of the attendees. And to be honest, the letter hit home, so I decided to extend my break to write you back.
I am a sophomore at Clemson University studying management. Now, I’m not writing you to tell you the letter was off color and run back to my safe space, in fact I’m writing to show you that some of us are still unwussified.
Without wasting your time telling you my entire life story, I just wanted to take a little of it to tell you about my brother and myself. We are two students who work in a blanking and stamping factory at the end of a press line that regularly come home bruised, bleeding, and stitched back together; who also find time to maintain a full class schedule at one of the best schools in the country. We have boots with worn-out leather and steel toes, shirts that are stained with grease, not a single pair of work pants without a hole, and still find time to do the necessary classwork to succeed.
Understand that this is not out of necessity, we are from a (currently) white-collar family who would support us in whatever we decide to pursue, including blue-collar work; just as my youngest brother has as a Mack Volvo diesel mechanic.
We choose to do this. Not for the glory, not for the notoriety, and certainly not for the money; we do it because it’s a good life experience.
So when you look at my generation, understand that there still a few hard-nosed, stiff-spined individuals left that our grandparents would be proud of.
Understand that — few and far between — there are still some of us who can still take it just as well as we can dish it, some of us who aren’t afraid to do whatever it takes to make it in this world, some of us who are still unwussified.
