What Do You Think?

Do you know this flower? If you are from North Carolina I'm sure you know what this is.

This was the first paying job I ever had. I started working in tobacco when I was about 10 years old. I handed the leaf off a "tobacco truck" to another person who tied it onto the stick. Those sticks of tobacco were put into a large tobacco barn and heat was used to cure the tobacco to the pretty golden color needed for cigarettes.

This is the tobacco in a field across from my home. This morning it was full of flowers. Tonight half the flowers have been removed by migrant laborers. They would have finished but it started to rain.

Do you remember when the government bought all the tobacco farmer's allotments? Lots of farmers are still receiving money from the buyout. Still, big tobacco farmers are planting all they can. Do you think this is right?