I took Latin in public high school, then a couple Classics courses in college, where I majored in Philosophy. Of course these studies developed my thinking and thus influenced who I am as well as what I do.

Sometimes a vocation stays in the center of cultural imagination, but the economy moves around it and moves on. I think that's what you're saying about "the coal miners, the farriers, and the repairmen" — the classics, if you will. Some vocations are classics in our hearts even when they're no longer viable economic mainstays.