So You Want to Be a Teacher?

Since Friday I have had the image of six-year-olds being killed, and other small children as witnesses.  But today I would like to talk about the other victims of our refusal to act against gun violence.

Teachers today, because of our insistence that any idiot should be able to get their hands on a gun, have to train to lead the children in their overcrowded classrooms to safety should a gunman breach the school.  They need to be on guard against strangers in the building at all times, rather than welcoming members of the community into their school.  It's not enough that they have to break up fights and be sure that overly energetic kids are not injuring themselves accidentally, they need to be the military guard of the classroom.

I, for one, can't imagine that we overpay any teacher who educates and cares for our children.  Imagining myself in front of a classroom for hours in a day, I am more than happy that teachers get long vacations, although these days many of them need summer jobs to supplement inadequate incomes.  And are forced to be accessible to parents at school and by phone at all hours.

But add to that the fact that our teachers are risking their lives, and expected to give up their lives, to save our children.  And then, assuming they get out alive, they have to live with having been in the middle of a war zone, and have to go back into that war zone yet another day, and the day after that.  And that their own families will take a back seat to that awesome responsibility.

The tragedy in Newtown was the horrendous extreme of gun violence.  But teachers in some neighborhoods face the possibility of that violence every day.  And we reward them by bickering about whether we should grade them, continue to offer them tenure, extend their school year without remuneration, forbid them to unionize, and if unionized, forbid them to strike.

Take another look at the teachers in your community.  Ask yourself if you would be willing -- if you would be able -- to do what they do for us and our children.

Job vs. Life

I wonder if the media is missing the boat on the tragic suicide of Jacintha Saldhana, the nurse who transferred the prank call by two Australia DJ's claiming to be Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles to Kate Middleton's private nurse.

This is a foreign born woman who, according to the Washington Post, commuted 140 miles to work and often worked double shifts so that she could spend more time with her family.

And England is a country that continues to slash its budget despite the fact that austerity has resulted in less economic growth rather than more.  It is a country whose royal family holds unimaginable wealth while its working class struggles.  And this royal family continues to thrive due to the idolatry of its citizens.

I wonder if an Indian woman working at a job for a government that has as its priorities budget slashing may be feeling a bit paranoid about her job security.  And of course, at the crux of her insecurities in the days of the Duchess's hospitalization would be her service to the Queen.

The two idiot DJ's who carried out the prank did no more or less than mock the royal family.  Most of us, here in the 21st century, enjoy mocking anyone who carries on as though they are royalty, including royalty.  In their defense, the call was not rude or offensive, and they were probably as surprised as anyone to be getting information on Middleton's condition from her private nurse.  Even the Royal Family appears to have taken the gag in stride, which they surely have had to learn to do over the years.

What we do have, though, is a woman who worked very hard and took her job very seriously.  The fear of condemnation for her mistake, the fear of losing her job, and the humiliation all that entails, may have been what put this good woman over the edge, to suicide.

In 2012, I'm afraid too many workers can identify with those fears.

Thankful to Have... Fair Pay?

Spurred on by Wal-Mart employees, which I'm sure were energized by the wave begun by the Occupy Movement, employees of fast food restaurants in New York City have begun a protest movement.

Fast Food Forward is the name of the movement in NYC that has organized protests against the big fast food chains.  They are demanding a living wage, better working conditions, and better benefits.

As should we all.

Here in Charleston, library workers get paid little more than minimum wage.  In the right-to-work-cheap state, we know what it is like to have to struggle to be able to afford Wal-Mart and McDonald's prices.

Go to the Fast Food Forward Facebook page and show your support.  We may not have heard a lot from the Occupy Movement these days, but it appears they have sown seeds that will, with all our involvement, lead to a resurgent labor movement, and that will include those of us who were left behind the first time.