Two articles in today’s New York Times (February 10, 2010) point
to a troubling pattern in American life today, a pattern that reflects a sharp
divide between the way one group among ourselves is treated and another. Why is
it acceptable to pay those laboring in the vital sector – what we need for
basic social decency and function -- health care aides, janitorial services, educators,
and farmworkers -- such low wages that food assistance is necessary for many of
these fellow human beings to survive? Another article, about the ire shown to
e-book publication rates shows we seem to feel similarly about cultural
workers, in the resentment shown to those who write, edit, and publish, and
create in other was to meet our voracious demand for entertainment. The meaning sector – those who are
involved in creative endeavors that supply entertainment, make meaning, and
provide reflection – is being devalued like the vital sector.
If we devalue the worker
behind the fruits that we consume – literally, food, cleanliness, health, the
arts, sports, and religious life – then we pave the way for those of us working
in other sectors to be similarly devalued. We are in this together.
As a minister – a religious
worker -- I regularly witness great sacrifices made to care for what we value.
Where our heart is, as Jesus observed, there our treasure also is. Religious
life – across the world religions – asks us to remember the inherent value of
every person around us. And lest we forget, we’re invited to remember how we
would like to be treated.
If the Golden Rule were
easily lived, we might not see this troubling pattern of treating each other as
lesser beings. The question I’ll ask those who feel it is acceptable to steal
creative ideas and not to pay living wages to vital workers is: how would you
like to be treated?
Having one’s labor valued so
cheaply is demeaning. I know this personally. I know it, too, from sitting with
people who have been out of work for long periods of time, or who have
scrabbled to make ends meet while holding multiple jobs. What does it mean that
nationally Americans are devaluing the vital and meaning sectors of our lives?
How do we cultivate a greater sense of “we” and “us”, a commonality that cares
and lives with gratitude for the many ways our lives can have worth and
dignity? A basic common level of worth and dignity is essentially within our
grasp. As a society, we do not have to strip away some people’s basic worth and
dignity so that some others of us may have a little more. But that’s what we’re
doing.
Today, I invite you to
consider all the ways your life is affected by and affects the lives of other
people. When you visit the library, remember that its resources are available
because of your willingness and ability to pay tax dollars. As your trash is
hauled away, pause to reflect on the lives of those who are doing that. When
you eat today, whatever you didn’t grow, harvest, butcher, or cook yourself,
think for a few moments about the many, many lives involved in bringing your
meal to table. When you ready yourself to rest, undressing is a chance to
remember those who made your clothes, those who support your health, those who
maintain the water pipes, the electrical stations, the environmental monitors.
Your life is not lived in isolation from others. The basic quality of your life
comes through the labor of others. How amazing and wonderful is that care and
labor! How grateful we all can be! How will that change your valuing the world
tomorrow?
