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Re: [OM] Ritz going under

Subject: Re: [OM] Ritz going under
From: Bob Whitmire <bwhitmire@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2009 08:03:11 -0500
On Feb 24, 2009, at 5:00 PM, Chris Crawford wrote:

> Highly intelligent people simply will not take low-wage employment  
> except
> when they're in school.

Sorry to disagree, but this simply isn't true. And while I am loath  
to characterize myself as "highly intelligent," I still must add that  
I willingly and with malice aforethought took a job paying fewer than  
$10 US an hour five years ago. I work for an agency that provides  
residential support to mentally handicapped people. I get health  
insurance. I work a shift that runs from 7 p.m. Sunday to 9 a.m.  
Tuesday. This gives me a two-day work week and a five-day weekend,  
which I use to further my photography ambitions. (And yes, my  
"regular" pay drops to minimum wage for 14 of those hours, as I am  
asleep. See, I get paid to sleep!)

But that's only part of the story. At risk of being tedious, I submit  
that my last work, as a newspaper editor for a property owned by the  
New York Times Co., was much higher paying and provided me with a  
much higher community profile. But it was dirty work that sucked the  
soul right out of my body. I finally had to leave that life behind,  
which is why I'm living in Maine and working for a pittance. But I'm  
much happier than I've ever been, and my life is much more  
satisfying. The photography sells well in season, buys my equipment,  
and pays for a few other things such as airline tickets to England,  
snow tires for both cars, and vacations with friends in Florida.

My gainful employment, on the other hand, provides benefits and  
enough money to pay a share of the bills. Furthermore, metaphorically  
speaking, it is "the Lord's work," that is, it's work that's not  
about me and my benefit and my material advancement. Believe me, when  
you work with the population I work with, you become humble quickly,  
or you move on. (Yes, I am at heart a very humble person, though I'm  
sure that seldom comes across in my posts. <g>)

Maybe having an autistic son also brought me to this point, as it  
became impossible for my wife and I to both care for him and pursue  
lucrative career paths.

That said, I could make more than I do, but I choose not to. We have  
food, shelter and clothing, and, with my wife's income, enough money  
to pretty much get by. No, I don't have the 52" Plasma, and am not  
likely to get one. My car is a seven-year-old Subaru station wagon,  
and my wife drives a Toyota Yaris. We are not likely to be in any  
more than that any time soon. But that's okay. It's our choice, and I  
believe we're the better for it.

(And I do have that Nikon D3 and a couple of nice pieces of glass,  
which the photography paid for in one year's time.)

My thesis, I suppose, is that highly intelligent people have the  
mental acuity to figure out how to do what they want to do with the  
resources at hand, and it doesn't always mean going after piles of cash.

Humbly submitted <wink>

--Bob Whitmire
www.bwp33.com




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