Interesting quote... keep that in your mind while you're reading this.
My middle school social studies teacher was a good man. He knew his subject well (even better than the textbooks sometimes). One thing he showed me has always stood with me. We were discussing the class system of ancient Egypt. No surprise that the graph was a pyramid. The slaves making up the largest chunk of the population and each class getting smaller and smaller until the Pharaoh on top. He asked us what we thought the perfect society should look like. We all threw out the pyramid model. He explained that an ideal society keeps the vast majority of its society in the middle. Now I've always thought that seemed like a fair idea, but let's see where we're at now.
Ah... the 99% vs the 1%. Is there ever such a lovely sound as a budding class conflict? Now let's look at a company. There are many low level employees, they are the lowest paid group in this company. Then there are their supervisors, slightly more paid and slightly fewer of them. Then their supervisors, and then their supervisors, so on and so on. The pattern holding up to the CEO at the top. Looks like a pyramid. However, if a company takes good care of its bottom rung, you'd be amazed how it can grow. But here's the thing, when a company gets too big... it can treat its bottom rung like crap and not be affected. I know how well Casey's treats its bottom rung employees. I also know how badly other companies treat theirs. I have to say that Casey's does right by its employees... Wal-mart really doesn't...
I discussed the idea of the CEO treating their employees horribly or cutting salaries just to maintain their own financial security with some other people. I was immediately labeled a communist and told to go back to Russia. That's what we do in this country apparently, we don't listen and we wonder why nothing gets done. Here's my issue: should there be such a disconnect between employee and CEO? Now don't get me wrong, CEO's should be paid a good chunk higher than the bottom rung employee, they have more stress (in most cases) and more responsibility. Should they be paid so high as to enter the area of parody?
Now I remember this guy... he went around making business deals and closing down companies. His way of doing this destroyed millions of jobs, but he donated a large sum to charity every year. He kept ending jobs and earning more from doing it. However, it was all perfectly legal, so no one could say anything to him. He was untouchable, ruthless, and showed no signs of stopping. Now... am I talking about a businessman we might see today? or am I talking about Lex Luthor... is there a difference?
We have entered a time when those who refuse to help those in need are admired. We have people who think the poor are poor because they choose to be poor. We've rationalized it so we view people as being poor because they're wasting their money on drugs. They're lazy and therefore don't try to get jobs. We walk by them and ignore them. They come to our places of business and we look down on them. They're beneath us. We talk around the water cooler about the person who bought bread, cheese, meat, and (dun Dun DUN!) pop on their EBT card. We lack empathy. We don't even try to put ourselves in their shoes, because we worked hard to get where we are... it is they who wouldn't last in our shoes. The world owes us for our hard work damnit!
I have friends with college degrees who make 3 times more what I do, but there also those with degrees who would love to make what I do. I've learned there are two kinds of people that emerge from college. The degree hunters and the education hunters. The education hunters emerge from college with the most valuable skill of all, the ability to learn. To them, the college experience was about more than a piece of paper, it was about the ability to expand who they are. They take this ability into the world and learn more from the world than college could ever teach them. The degree hunters, however, feel entitled. They have their almighty degree and are done learning, they know all there is to know. The world shows them differently. Don't believe me? I know people with master's degrees in business that can't do my job... because they refuse to learn.
It all comes down to that sense of entitlement. That "I am better" mentality. I've talked to some people about the idea of the masses lifting the few on their shoulders. They tell me that's how It's supposed to be. So now I finally remind you of the quote in the beginning. If you truly agree with that sentence, well then look in the mirror, maybe you'll start talking to yourself in a horrible Willem Dafoe impression. You are the Green Goblin. You've entered the realm of thinking like a supervillain. Just hope the world doesn't make a Spider-man.
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