Construction workers and brooms

Amazing right, how on earth could one imagine that constructions workers in one country could so remarkably resemble constructions workers in another. I swear I walk past construction workers every day, and half of them really aren't doing anything. Just watching. But what is most amazing to me is not that there are people watching, but what in fact they are watching. Among the myriad of high tech machinery that is being employed in all construction jobs from jackhammers to 200 foot tall cranes, somehow advances in brooms in the last 400 years has been overlooked. You may not quite realize what it is I am actually saying so I will explain it a bit more. Yes, I did say brooms. You know, those things you use to keep your floors dirt free. Typically some ungodly color that doesn't really match anything, and I have seen some 'fugly' colored kitchens. Even through the fashion 'fopaux' that most brooms seem to make, they still work rather well and have advanced through the years along with other such technologies like the sponge and mop. Here is where I am sure you are lost and I hope to clarify further the details of the broom non-evolution.

About 5 years ago I traveled, amid other places, Cambodia. At which time I visited the ancient temples of Angkor Wat. Upon this visit I spied a lady who appeared to work/live in one of the temples. This seemed slightly concerting, but whether she actually lived there or just woke really early in the morning to give the appearance to the multitude of tourists that she did live there i don't know. The point of this, which I'm sure feels like a sidebar, is to say that she had a broom. This broom looked like something she made herself, and I'm not altogether positive she didn't. It consisted of a stick for a handle, and many small twigs or branches tied around the stick to act as bristles. Now if you are picturing a 17th century looking broom depicted in movies from that era, you basically have what I am describing. And, in this place of poverty, squalor, and hardship it makes sense to see a broom of this standard.

Now I come to the question I have been pondering for quite some time now. Does the Japanese government for its constructions workers buy their brooms from this lady, in which case she is really busy, or do they just not believe in the monumental advances in broom technology that have happened in the last, oh lets say 300 years. I mean really, how well can twigs clean the sidewalk of a construction zone. I'll tell you how well, not well at all. It is a dirty piece of shit when I walk by I'll have you know. So what gives? I know it's not that plastic is harmful to the environment. There is plenty of other plastic out there let me tell you. Why are these relics of brooms still being used today? Is it truly to preserve some sense of traditionalism in construction? Why? What is the point of traditionalism in a broom? It's not as if these brooms work well, after they sweep there is just as much dirt there as before. Which kind of brings me back to one of my original points in that governmental construction workers are the some world wide apparently. I mean, yeah this guy has a broom in his hand and he thinks he is pushing some sand and rocks around, but he isn't really working. I wouldn't pay this guy for what he is doing. I can't imagine a company in the free market of capitalism that would pay this guy to do what he is doing. Only a governmental agency could possibly think this was a good idea. Not to mention again how well this doesn't work. I mean, I wouldn't ride my skateboard through there or anything. I spent too much money on my bearings to go through that kind of sand and rocks unfortunately will stop a skateboard dead in its tracks, not so much a human. Kinetic energy and all, humans tend to find there way to the ground. A much bigger rock which does stop them, all the while leaving a bloody mess.

Anyway, back to the topic which was brooms. I can only pray for the insights of human kind in this area to soon be utilized by my friendly hosts. For such a wonderfully clean country it is amazing how that happens, not through sweeping I'm sure.