I haven't heard much about Occupy Wall Street since I'd glanced at the cover of The New York Post at my local newsstand and seen that the Occupiers planned to do something related to the transit system. Now, since I glanced at the front page and did not actually read an article on the issue, I'm not sure whether OWS planned to just protest near major train stations throughout the city or take concrete action to slow the system down.
Regardless of whatever they planned to do, I remember that my reaction was not supportive. The idea of me- a straphanger with an $104 30-Day Unlimited Metrocard- actually unable to use my Metrocard to get to work or appointments for any length of time was infuriating. I'm so dependent on the subway that I had no cares or worries about Hurricane Irene until I heard that MTA service was going to be shut down, so I care very deeply about public transit and my access to it, at least until I assume a position in society where I can get 24/7 use of a Town Car. After glancing at that front page, I felt the way many professional or upwardly mobile- but middle class- New Yorkers feel about Occupy Wall Street: I supported their broader message of greater equity in our society while I bemoaned a particular tactic or stunt as reported.
Driving on my way home from a Thanksgiving Eve function, my cousin happened to mention Occupy Wall Street. Being tired, I didn't say anything and listened inattentively. "My friend _______ says that Occupy Wall Street is (something not good)...He says that if those protesters really wanted to find jobs they'd be washing dishes because if you're desperate to work then you find a job...you have to start at the bottom. ______ says that they're not defending the working poor but bums." My ears by this point had perked up, but I was still tired, so I was in this odd state of being physically tired while feeling intellectually heated. My Uncle, who was either being diplomatic or was also tired, replied, "Yeah, I see how you could say that. A lot of teachers at my school feel that way about them too."
If I'd had the energy, I would have made a few counterpoints, but I wasn't terribly interested in debating the messenger of a viewpoint (as opposed to the one who holds it) and I immediately thought this would be a good topic for a post. I received an e-mail earlier today from someone who wrote, "We all have something to be thankful for- even the challenges, which often make us stronger and more clear-eyed about who we are and where we want to go." I can definitely say I have dealt with challenges over the years and have had to use those challenges as a means to reckon with important realizations I've made about myself, those around me, and our society in these turbulent times. Challenges can be useful and I have never met anyone who would deny their value, but we have to have a limit. The idea that all hardship builds character is a strain of thinking that I think has infected this person in a way that has infected many others, myself included. There is so much more hardship these days than there was in the early 2000s and 1990s and I wonder if our way of coping with it is rooted in some desire to move beyond the turbulence and try to take ownership of our lives in a way that has eluded us for too long.
Regardless of your political persuasion, I think every American can agree on a few basic things (even if Congress can't). The obstacles- of our mind, our circumstances, and our times- that we overcome are necessary engines of growth and innovation for how we live our lives. "Starting at the bottom" is not an uncommon story in this country so no one is really alien to the idea; from the existential to the financial, every problem presents an obstacle that can harden our resolve or break us. Unfortunately, what we're seeing today- in unemployment figures, international news, and the workings of Congress- leans toward breakdown more than resolve. And I think that is where any sympathy for Occupy Wall Street lies: in our bewilderment at how our public institutions have become so ineffective, shock at the amount of money this country produces, and sadness at the fact that for all the money we ALL make there are so few of us that get to keep it. Make no mistake, that waiter is making money as much as the stockbroker does; the only difference is that the waiter has less take-home pay and more back pain. Not to say that the stockbroker doesn't have her pains, just that she's more likely to afford a massage and a day off.
If you've graduated from college and your dream is to be the CEO of McDonald's, then working the cashier at a McDonald's is starting at the bottom, with your direction to be determined by your work ethic and savvy. However, if you graduated from college and your dream is to be a historian, then working at McDonald's is not starting at the bottom. It's starting underground.
No one should be desperate to get work. They should be eager for a job and qualified for the jobs they apply for, but they shouldn't be desperate. Desperation implies erosion of your senses and a vulnerability to negative influences. Desperate people become misguided people who become dangerous people and we don't need that. People shouldn't be desperate and they certainly shouldn't have reason to be desperate in this country. That's why the Occupy movement started here- not because our youngsters are crazier, but because they have an acute sense of the gap between what they're entitled to and what they're not getting. While the Occupiers should be thankful to have a city that sympathizes with them and some way of moving forward with their agenda and in their lives, they shouldn't be grateful for scraps. Simply put, people these days are not getting what they're working for and certainly not what they deserve.
So tomorrow, as you're stuffing your face, let's be thankful for what we have and who we have while hoping for more to come.
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