Earning and having a job was very important if you were the breadwinner of the family
. There were several obstacles that you were going to go through before getting a job that would feed your family. There were no easy job, you know it and everybody else knows it.
"The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one." (Oscar Wilde)
Could you as well the agree to the quoted statement above? Well, that's how important a job was.
Our parents always think of our future, sometimes kids cannot see the love that flows with it but the really did. When was a small kid, I thought my dad didn't love me as I love him because he was always not a home and spends just two weeks at most every six months or even longer than that. He was working then offshore until now. During those days I could hardly understand why he needs to left us for a long time. As I was growing up I began to realized how hard it was as well for my father to leave us for a long time but it was really necessary because of the calling of the work, to sustain the need of our family and to send me and my sister and brother to school.
Working offshore was hard even if he won't told us, as a part of my realization I've told myself that "He loves us so much to risk himself for work just to sustain our need."
You know that Maritime industry was one of the riskiest industry and the series of incidents involving personal injury and accidents involving maritime industry was increasing and it was the evident that justifies the danger of working on the mentioned industry. What was good thing despite of the risk?
It was 1920, when Senator Jones Wesley passed the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 or the Jones Act Law. The law serves as the protection of the maritime workers so as my father. Because of Jones act Law the company would give the claims that a worker if they were involved in a personal injury or an accident under the company they were rendering their services.
Jones Act Law was a very important part of a maritime worker's career. Knowing your claims and privileges under Jones Act Law was very important to keep yourself away from negligence.