Honor In Honest Work

I’d like their names.

I’d really like to know which lazy, unsupervised knob turners at Fox News were sifting through internet garbage a couple of days ago, stumbled upon a  picture of a former TV star bagging groceries at a Trader Joe’s and decided to post THAT blockbuster on the network’s website.

Were they trying to embarrass Geoffrey Owens, a one-time co-star of “The Cosby Show”? Were they implying that supermarket work is demeaning? Were they mocking the actor for toiling at a job that doesn’t pay as well as show business?

News flash: The fact that an actor was famous and probably rolling in dough almost 30 years ago and who now has ordinary employment - presumably between acting gigs - is not anyone’s business. 

And it’s definitely not news.

Sneering at folks who work at service jobs is precisely the sort of elitism Fox commentators constantly criticize on other networks. 

For those not paying attention, this is LABOR Day weekend. While this is a holiday with its roots in the American labor movement, it’s also one day of the year set aside to honor America’s ordinary, decent working men and women. The people who get up every day, go to their jobs, take care of their kids and pay their bills. 

You and me, in other words. And Geoffrey Owens.

If you’ve never performed repetitive tasks, worked with your hands, or held a job that wasn’t widely admired by society, I feel sorry for you. You missed out.

I learned as much working in a sweatshop one summer as I did in my first year of college. The insight into human nature I got during four summers as a waitress? Priceless.

I’m guessing the brats who decided to engage in a little digital schadenfreude never had the benefit of waiting tables, bagging groceries or working in a factory.

Pity. 

From what I can gather, the talented Mr. Owens has acted on and off since the days of “Cosby.” He's performed Shakespeare, has had parts in many TV shows and movies and at the moment is apparently working at a NJ Trader Joe’s.

So what?

Some busybodies spied Owens at work in the supermarket, snapped his photo and launched it into cyberspace. Naturally, the cheesy British tabloid press picked it up. Then, Fox News took the bait.

Shame on all of them.