Field of Dreams and Deadly Disease
Life Lessons
09.12.2008
Working for the nation’s leading expert on virulent corn disease, my job was to infect corn stalks with nasty maladies so he could watch them die. No chemical handling training, no protective gear – just me, acres of corn and a PVC pipe outfitted with a heavy gauge steel needle chock full of deadly goodness. Brilliant!
Life was great on the ole’ farm. I had a killer farmer’s tan, a work truck (despite not having a driver’s license), unlimited access to toxic substances and money in the bank.
My splendid summer cruised by and soon it was time to go back to school. Two weeks before school started, I walked into my boss’s office to let him know that I’d soon be quitting. He was on the phone – in a rather heated conversation – so I hung around until he was finished. The moment I stepped into his office, it was clear things weren’t good for this revered corn expert. It turns out the phone call was from the farm’s research director, informing my boss that we were working in the wrong field. Instead of infecting the field of test crop, we had successfully destroyed more than $15 million worth of genetically modified corn. I never worked on the farm again.
