My bad...
My bad. I did it again. I checked out USA Today's reader's blog. It can really get you down and lead you to question the quality of education in America. Today's topic was whether US companies should, like companies everywhere else, provide paid maternity leave.
Most of the responses were along the lines of "if you want kids, why should I pay for them" variety. A host of small business owners wrote in, aggrieved at the very idea that they would have to provide some benefit to the workers and society that make their business possible.
Sometimes it seems as though the American middle class is chock full of individuals that look down, see second base beneath their feet and are convinced they hit a double. The very idea that we live in a society that creates the conditions that makes the success of some possible, and in turn demands they we return the favor, just has not penetrated the popular consciousness. It is as though, we have overdosed on the Horatio Alger myth. We think any level of success we enjoy must be the result of our own innate pluck, intelligence and hard work.
Trouble is, those qualities usually only tell half the story. The circumstances of birth and the web of support our society gives us tells the rest of the story. We have all been warmed by fires we did not light and we have all drank from wells we did not dig. Maybe instead of patting ourselves on the back and worrying that someone is taking our precious treasure, we should try to repay the favor.
Most of the responses were along the lines of "if you want kids, why should I pay for them" variety. A host of small business owners wrote in, aggrieved at the very idea that they would have to provide some benefit to the workers and society that make their business possible.
Sometimes it seems as though the American middle class is chock full of individuals that look down, see second base beneath their feet and are convinced they hit a double. The very idea that we live in a society that creates the conditions that makes the success of some possible, and in turn demands they we return the favor, just has not penetrated the popular consciousness. It is as though, we have overdosed on the Horatio Alger myth. We think any level of success we enjoy must be the result of our own innate pluck, intelligence and hard work.
Trouble is, those qualities usually only tell half the story. The circumstances of birth and the web of support our society gives us tells the rest of the story. We have all been warmed by fires we did not light and we have all drank from wells we did not dig. Maybe instead of patting ourselves on the back and worrying that someone is taking our precious treasure, we should try to repay the favor.
posted by Jack Reed at 4:32 PM
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