Understanding Another's Point of View

I have been reading a lot lately, trying to understand why so many Tennesseans seem willing to vote against their own interests. It’s something that has puzzled me for some time.

I understand that sometimes two people can look at the same thing and see it differently. That’s human nature. To my surprise, I found we are not that different after all. We just differ by degrees.

For instance, we, you and I have strong feelings about fairness. We think it’s wrong that the top 1% of Americans own more than the bottom 50%, that it’s wrong for children to live in poverty. We believe that women should earn what their male counterparts do, especially when so many single, head-of-households are women. The list goes on.

Then I learned that Republicans believe strongly in fairness, too. But they define it as proportionality. If people work hard and are successful, they should get to keep that as much of that money as they can. If people are lazy no accounts, that may be their choice, but it’s not up to those who have to support their life styles.

In a way, I agree with that extreme view. If a person is a lazy slug, perhaps he should get a whack to the head to get his attention. Perhaps he should learn that in this country there’s no free lunch. Perhaps.

But the people I meet, those so called slugs, are the working poor. They work one, sometimes two or three jobs just to pay the rent. That leaves almost no money for food, clothing, and other basic needs. These people aren’t lazy. Not by a long shot. So, why is it that they need help?

I’ll tell you. In 1968, the minimum wage was $1.60/hr. A working person could pay the rent, feed and clothe a family of three. They didn’t live a king’s life, but they got by. And they had the gift of time. Time to be with each other. Time to parent. Time to go to the park and have a picnic.

Today, a person has to work three weeks at minimum wage to pay for a modest apartment. He or she has to work two jobs to be sure there’s food on the table and that their kids have shoes. There is no time. No time to love their children, to guide them to adulthood. No time to help them with their homework or listen to their concerns. They and their children are virtual strangers to one another. So, while I agree that lazy, no accounts might not deserve my help, I have yet to meet them in any great numbers.

I have met single moms who are waitresses. If anyone here has been a waitress, you know the toll that job takes on your body, how your feet ache at the end of the day from being on your feet for hours on end. Imagine what it was like back in 1995 when the minimum wage for wait staff was $2.13/hr., when there were no sick days, or healthcare.

Contrast that to today, when the minimum wage for wait staff is, wait, $2.13/hr, with no sick days and no healthcare.

Imagine the waitress, a mother with children to support, who has come down with a cold or a fever. Unlike us, she has a choice to make. Do I stay home to rest, and forego the money, or do I take myself, and my cold, to wait on my clients?

I can now see their point. I hope someday they can see mine.