Overworked, Underpaid, Unappreciated

America’s workforce is in crisis. The backbone of our service-based economy—secretaries, delivery people, technicians, clerks, small businessowners, first responders—feels (1) overworked, (2) underpaid, and (3) unappreciated. Despite how vital they are to our society, as “pillars of innovation,” that selfsame feeling of smallness—"cogs in the wheel”—pervades their lives. And it seems that nothing is going to change and that nobody can do anything about it.

Wealth and power are distributed unevenly in our society. That will not change. But there is also a “moral economy” here, too: the rich and powerful are obligated to be kind to the not as fortunate. When face-to-face with society’s “worker bees,” one can treat them like “cogs in the wheel” or “pillars of innovation.” Choosing the latter consistently can lighten the load for all of us collectively. But it starts with a single, individual example to turn a trickle into a flood.

J.J.