And now for something completely different

And now for something completely different

I suppose as a writer (an unrecognized one as of yet) it is my job to view things from many angles. I try and see things from peoples perspective even if it is at a polar opposite of mine. Being a little more than slightly empathic it is fairly easy for me. Cursed/blessed with an over active imagination I often wonder why people do things and search for the deeper meaning in things. More and more I see people as two dimensional and three dimensional. The two dimensional individuals exist with length and width but have no depth. There is no deeper reasoning to them, they simply exist not caring about the third dimension at all. They are the superficial people in this world who care more about the status quo, the appearance of doing well, and the monetary gain. More and more I hear people speak about relationships and what they get out of them what the other person can do for them. They are more concerned with the income level and what type of car their potential mate drives or how they look on the arm of their potential mate. They devalue a person strictly based on things in this life that once you are gone have no value. I, statistically, am of less value to society because I make less money and am on a fix income. Because I can not contribute as much financially to society as a whole because I have a disease called Multiple Sclerosis. Society forgets that once I had a promising career, that I have 3 years of college on the dean's list and Graduated all 3 Programs on the Presidents honour roll. They forget that I have worked 2 and 3 jobs at a time just to support myself and my family. More over they forget I have a brain. For society it's easy to forget that I made the choice to have a career that I knew wouldn't be lucrative even though I was more then capable of obtaining the education do to so. As a whole society we place less value on things that should be of more value to us. Children are our future we cry out, but we pay those people who mind our children minimum wage. Minimum wage in other words is as little money as legally po

ssible a business can pay you. In Ontario minimum wage has been increased to 11 dollars an hour. Which is about 22,000 dollars a year or roughly 1760 dollars a month. If you are on the Ontario Disability Support Program or ODSP you get a whopping: $1,086. A What does this say about our society? How a society treats those who are vulnerable says a lot about the society it's self. Should someone, who no fault of his or her own looses the capacity to have a daily job, be forced to live below the poverty line? Should someone who is responsible for looking after our greatest asset as a country (children) be forced to live below the poverty line? Why do we put more value on a stock broker than a child and youth worker or on a banker than a social worker? The Canadian government is cutting pensions and services to our veterans, they are breaking a pledge that we swore to up hold. Why do we value a local Municipal Parliament Member more than our soldiers? A single person who works suddenly looses his/her job. If they are self employed or classified under the self employed section (tow truck drivers, cab drivers etc.) they get a whopping $626 from Ontario Works (welfare). This is supposed to cover food, rent, transportation and phone (ya try getting a job if they can't call you because you can't afford to pay for the phone because you are too busy trying not to starve to death)? A single Mom of two kids $1,194 a couple with 1 kid $1,207. Lord help them if they need to buy diapers. Welfare is not supposed to be a long term solution, but looking at the figures how are they ever supposed to survive and get on their feet with the pittance they are given? I spent many years as a front line worker and activist in working with the homeless and disadvantaged. I went to school for this, paid off my student loans and even volunteered my spare time when I wasn't working in the field. I often told people that I worked with human garbage and they nodded in agreement. What they failed to realize was I meant that I worked with people that society had thrown away because they were of no use to them. I found that this sector of the population was more three dimensional than the rest of society. They had hopes and dreams, values and morals but to society as a whole they were valueless because they were unable to contribute financially. The man with the doctorate who suffered from mental illness who could no longer work because of mental illness, the well educated woman who spoke four languages because she too suffered from a mental illness, and the woman who had an educational background the same as mine who was forced to sell her body because she lost her job and the competition for so few jobs was too great, these people were three dimensional. They have stories. They have depth. Some of the people are gone now, but their story lives on through me. The conversations that I held with them still lives on after their death. Long after the two dimensional peoples beauty fades or their shiny things loose their sparkle I will remember these people and their stories. Although I have less value to society as a whole because my tax bracket is lower than it once was, I have something more of value than all the riches in the world. I can look at myself in the mirror and know that I have made this world (or at least my corner) of it a better place. That no matter how poor I get, I always strive to help people who are less fortunate than I am. And I suppose Sensei that is why I am awesome today.