So I was going to watch my favorite unemployed New Yorker just now; but I've been asked to 'keep it down'. So I'll rant instead.
Hewers of wood and drawers of water are rare in our hydrocarbon-based economy; rare enough that we can forget the origins of the term. But they're not rare in the world.
Last December my wife and I had the privilege of visiting Mali, one of the poorest countries in the world. Mali is where you can find Timbuktu, or if you prefer the colonial misspelling, Tombouctou. It's also where you can find my mother, working as a Peace Corps volunteer, which is why we were out there almost a year ago.
My mom is stationed in a village with no electricity or running water. If you want water, you have to draw it yourself from the water table -- at least 5 m below the surface, sometimes more. If you want heat for comfort or cooking, you have to gather wood from en brousse to burn in your fireplace. Drawing water and gathering wood are necessary life-sustaining activities that must be attended to each day.
Think about what it means for us, here in the West, to have solved the heat and water problems. None of us spends time worrying about personally obtaining fuel or water. It's delegated and forgotten. Pay some money at the end of the month for hot and cold running water.
The original meaning of "draw" (akin to drag) has even atrophied out of our language. Not so in Bore, the language of the region where my mother lives. The words for "draw water" are le nyu, and the words and concept are very much alive.
We have eliminated whole categories of mentally unrewarding physical work from our world. Isn't that inspiring?