My mom and I were talking on the phone this week about layoffs at her company, the general state of the economy, and what might happen to my dad's retirement pension and health care if GM goes bankrupt. My dad worked there for thirty-some odd years - his whole working life - and I never remember him missing a day of work. My parents have never had lots of extra money, but somehow there was always enough to take family vacations, buy me my first car, help with college tuition, and pay for my wedding.
Why? Because my parents do not waste money. They do not eat out very much; they do not buy trendy clothes; they do not go to Starbucks; they do not fly often; they do not buy anything without doing a lot of research and coupon-gathering. Things they do include: rinse out and re-use plastic ziploc baggies; wear clothes until they aren't nice enough to wear anymore, not just until they go out of style; cook simple things from scratch; knit; sew; take care of their own lawn; pay all their bills on time; pay their debt off early; save their money.
So when my mom and I were talking, I was thinking two things. First, I was thinking that the auto companies have messed up - paid their executives WAAAAAY too much for waaaay too long, fought fuel-efficiency standards with lobbyists at every turn, shipped jobs overseas to pay cheaper wages - and don't deserve to be bailed out. If you're a company, you take a risk. If you win, you win; if you lose, you lose. Right?
But then I was thinking, what will happen to all those people? My dad, other people's dads, single moms, whole families who will lose their health insurance and their income and their retirement funds, all at once. I wonder if the beautiful, exceptional school I once taught at and still love will even be able to keep its doors open? I wonder what will happen to Detroit, to Michigan?
I was torn.
Two days later, I read this amazing post that says it all so much better than I could even think it. If nothing else, it's another perspective on the situation. And no matter what, it's given me another chance to stop and be so incredibly grateful for the things - material and not - that my dad and mom have given to me by raising me the way they did.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
i agree. i am so annoyed with the car companies that i want them to go under. especially being the child of parents' who own their own businesses. that said...i do consider the workers and their families, but i don't know what a good compromise is. fire the CEO's...let the foreign car companies buy the american ones and straighten them out? who knows. anyway it sucks, but people need to be held accountable. it really, really, sucks ass for the employees. detroit will die...it's been on the deathbed for some time now.
thanks for the link...it's a great perspective. having lived in detroit i can only imagine what else this is going to do to the city. it was in bad shape when we were there.
Post a Comment