The burger flippers. The janitors. The glorified baby sitters who work in assisted living facilities. The bag boys and check out girls.
The working people who a few short years ago were referred to derisively when they demanded a livable wage.
Not an exorbitant income that would allow them to finance a second investment property, but one that would allow them to pay rent, buy groceries and maybe put a little aside at the end of the month after all their other bills were taken care of.
The ones who told us minimum wage in this day and age was not enough to make a living and so many of them were forced to take a second or third job.
And many of them still were not able to afford adequate health coverage.
Those people, a lot of them, are still working to make sure the rest of us have what we need while we shelter in place.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought daily routines to a screeching deadly halt. As some Americans become accustomed to working from home, others are scrambling to figure out what happens next after having been laid off because businesses have been forced to close their doors for the sake of public safety.
And still others are working while they can to keep food on our and their tables. To make sure the vulnerable members of our community are looked after in nursing homes and care facilities. To provide a simple meal for take-out when the items we wanted from the grocery store are not to be found.
Many of the people whose jobs, vocations, callings and gigs were dismissed as being nonessential or too simple to demand more than a few dollars an hour have proven to be essential in that they contribute to a healthy economy.
And they are still providing services we previously deemed inconsequential and unimportant.
As we see now, they’re not.
Each of us has a role to play in making our community a healthy and vibrant one during the best of times.
In the worst of times each of us still has a role, though its magnitude may be increased or diminished in light of the circumstances.
Nonetheless we all deserve a living wage even if a job title is not an elevated one.
