I don't think it was thoughtful or sensible at all. Bob seems to think that
I'm demanding to get rich. I'm not. A living wage is what I'm talking about.
Working for less than that is foolish. You not only hurt yourself, you hurt
society because it encourages businesses to pay poverty wages. I simply
cannot afford to work for low wages. I have 100% responsibility for my son.
His mother has been institutionalized by the state for mental illness. She
is locked up in the state mental hospital so I get no child support. If I
spend 40 hours a week slaving for nothing, who will watch my son? I can't
afford child care on the $7 on hour all the jobs here pay. That costs $150 a
week for on kid here, and low-wage jobs pay about $230 a week take-home. Not
possible to pay rent, childcare, and food on that!
Consider this: My girlfriend recently found a new job. It pays $9 an hour,
but only gives her 30 hours a week. So she makes nothing. She was all
excited though because all she saw was the 49 an hour, $3 an hour more than
her even worse previous job paid. I slapped down her joy HARD. I reminded
her that the government gives me more money in student aid every year while
I work on my masters degree than she earns. In fact, I get more NOT WORKING
than she'd get if they gave her fulltime 40 hours a week!
Bob also didn't mention that his autistic kid probably gets Social Security
for disability (if he doesn't he needs to apply). That money is what would
make low wage employment possible for him, as does his wife's income. The
money I get from the government goes away when I graduate, then I HAVE to
find a living wage job. That's a stone cold fact...there is NO way I can
live on less than $35,000 a year, bare minimum, and feed myself and my son
while having a roof over our heads. Am I greedy, as Bob's post implies,
because I desire the pittance that $35,000 a year represents? Most of you
here make twice that.
--
Chris Crawford
Fine Art Photography
Fort Wayne, Indiana
260-747-3962
http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com My portfolio
http://blog.chriscrawfordphoto.com My latest work!
On 2/25/09 8:21 AM, "John Hudson" <OM4T@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Bob ............ take the wink out of your humble submission.
>
> This is one of the most thoughtful and sensible postings to this list in a
> long time.
>
> More people should pay attention to this message.
>
> jh
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bob Whitmire" <bwhitmire@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: "Olympus Camera Discussion" <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 9:03 AM
> Subject: Re: [OM] Ritz going under
>
>
>> 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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>>
>
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