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Quote of the Day: Mike Rowe and the “Sweat Pledge”
Personally I’m in the midst right now of doing what I do every year which is trying to give away work ethic scholarships which gets harder every year . . . we’ve given away $5 million over the last five years. And yes, every year it gets increasingly difficult to affirmatively reward work ethic. There are some things my scholarship requires you to do that other scholarships don’t: you have to write essays and make videos and sign a ‘sweat pledge.’ And when people are often confronted with these hoops through which I ask them to leap, they take what you call umbrage at that and I find it fascinating. . .
. . . the S.W.E.A.T. pledge must be signed by ALL applicants. S.W.E.A.T stands for, “Skill & Work Ethic Aren’t Taboo.” Basically, you’re signing a solemn oath not to become a lazy, self-entitled drone who blames others for their troubles and expects to be taken care of. Fair warning: this Pledge is not for everyone; so if you’re offended or threatened by its content, it’s probably best to seek out a different pile of free money.
I think Mike Rowe, who’s quoted above, is a great example of persistence and a strong work ethic; he demonstrates his values every time he takes on a new challenge on his show, Dirty Jobs. And I’m not surprised at his difficulty in finding applicants for his scholarships.
How far we’ve fallen.
Published in Culture
My wife & I attended a small luncheon for the Baltimore Councils Eagle Scout Mom’s a few years ago and Mike’s Mom Peggy was the guess speaker, because her boy was an Eagle Scout and she thought Scouting was an important part of his character formation. He readily admits his degree in Communications is a bit worthless, and certainly did not help him in his early job hunting.
If you don’t want to be humbled, make sure your Mom is proud of your accomplishments, because she knows all your dirt and may divulge it too keep you honest. She certainly had some delightful stories of Mike’s foibles.
That was very cool, @gldIII! Moms do that kind of thing! I’ll bet she was a kick.
Reading the article I posted at #22, you’ll see that he makes no secret of his own foibles. Even more when you hear him in person.
He didn’t mention being an Eagle Scout.
He didn’t say anything in the article about one of the biggest influences in his life – his grandfather, who had almost no education, but built a house himself with plans that existed only in his head.
Then the day in his high school counselor’s office. The counselor had a poster on his wall with two young men – one in dirty work clothes, wearing a hard hat, holding a wrench and whatever, the other in a graduation robe, wearing a mortarboard, and holding a diploma. The poster said, “work hard or work smart.” He tells about looking at that poster, and thinking about his grandfather. He decided that he rather liked the guy in the hard hat better. And so it goes.
Sometimes if you get the diploma, you still get a hard hat. Or better yet, a crash helmet.
Yep, got both. Gone through a few of the latter, and in fact, one saved my life.
And we’re so blessed that it did!