Personal sacrifice and the economy.
"Either you share the work and sacrifice together, or the company may sink in this economic storm."
I had a very advantaged childhood, but not especially luxurious. As kids we handed everything down from sister to sister. Bikes, clothes, and other things. We had plenty of food, but not the costly cuts of meat or expensive seafood. We learned to love beef tongue (often a discarded piece of the cow) and corned beef. I never learned to love Scotch Steak. We seldom ate out and were never extravagant. My parents drove economic, serviceable cars. We did live in a wonderful expanding house in a "country" suburb that was to become a sought after address. My dad owned a construction company and you can see evidence of that in commercial buildings all around Cleveland. Quite a legacy.
But as we gathered together as a family after my Dad died, we all shared thoughts and memories. It was actually so amazing the different viewpoints from all around the room. My older sister, redbaydreamer , told how my father was not the highest paid person in the company. Wow, I never knew that. He felt he only needed to make enough to live the comfortable lifestyle he had chosen and to take care of his family.
My Dad had also shown us by example that "all men were created equal." I never saw him treat anyone differently because of their job or skin color or lack of education. When the lowest paid laborers from his business would deliver sawdust to use as mulch in my Mom's gardens, you could tell how much they liked and respected my Dad.
Right now in these economic times we are being asked to live more like my Dad chose to live. Sacrificing for others. Taking a pay cut so that all your fellow employees can keep their jobs & their healthcare. I truly think it is the right thing to do. Will we get back to what we made before? I don't know, but I do know that this is not the normal thoughts of our society. Some times it is hard not to resent the people you walk by every day that chose to lay people off or even took raises while your pay was cut. I know for a fact that several of the elected (democrat) officials chose to lay off a single mother and a 60 year old widow, then to even consider the pay cut. Some of these elected officials have retired from government service and are collecting their pension and their full salary. So much for sacrificing for others. I have thanked my boss for the choices he made and for the fact that he is donating part of his salary to lessen the burden on the rest of us. (His salary is regulated by state law.) I know he hoped other officials would follow his example, but NO, only the clerk of courts hopped on that bandwagon.
From my viewpoint, I think I am lucky to work for such a man. A very busy man who took time out of his day and drove an hour to pay his respects when my Dad died. A good man with a big heart.