"Your statement above indicates that you must live in a world where unskilled and semi-skilled workers are the norm and that this gives you a special insight into their plight."
Sure, my dad was the first in his family to graduate from high school. His father and mother had elementary school educations. They were smart people who made a living as best they could. My sister and I grew up in California following my dad around on road construction jobs. He was a member of a construction union. We sometimes lived in places that had outdoor toilets and wore the same clothes until they wore out. My grandparents lived in the mountains and didn't have running water, indoor plumbing or electricity. I went to high school with kids who were from mostly poor families; some working poor and some welfare poor. I wasn't going to play high school sports because we didn't have the money for cleats or a physical but my dad found out and was so crushed by the thought that I took the money and played.
Although I went in the service, came out, went to school on the GI bill, completed graduate school, ran my own business and made an easier life for myself, most of my friends are lower middle class working people and my best friend has been unemployed from his work in semi-skilled jobs for almost two years despite his substantial efforts to find work, any work, that pays a living wage. He's trying to hang on until age 62 where he can survive on SS.
It's easy to project yourself into the shoes of another and think "if that was me I'd..." but the problem is that the person isn't you and almost never has your education, intellect, skills and advantages. I can guarantee you that in locales like mine, with the people I know, your world is far away. Empathy should make you understand that. Ed |
