Gumption: Relighting the Torch of Freedom with America's Gutsiest Troublemakers

by Nick Offerman

Wendell and Tanya and I spoke at length about one of his themes that drives me with constancy, that of “good work.” One aspect of this topic that I often regurgitate is his dislike for a society that celebrates the notion of “Thank God it’s Friday!” Taking this position, people are necessarily saying that they despise five of every seven days of their lives. He said he first noticed it when he was teaching college, that people would answer the question “How are you doing?” with “Well, pretty good, for a Monday.” This exposed a joylessness that filled Mr. Berry with concern. “It’s a great harbinger of what’s to come. If you don’t like the classes about what you’re going to do, you’re not going to like going to do it.” “More importantly,” he said, “the collegiate system and the importance that’s placed upon it has demeaned and is doing away with the trades.” This is a topic of his that has always gotten me fired up. When I was in high school in the eighties, only the underachievers and burnouts were relegated to the area vocational school. It was considered a substantial demotion in life, brought on only by poor grades or attitude. “John, I don’t think you have what it takes to get through trigonometry. How about we make a welder out of you?” I was going to be headed to college because I was not planning to work in a field so low as mechanics or clothing fabrication or (forfend!) woodworking.