Good morning Dinks. If there is always a gap in wages will there always be a difference in classes? Well yes, classes will always exist in society but only if people let money come between them. Money didn’t create classes, people created classes. Having more money than someone doesn’t make us better than them, or does it? If we could all just stop idolizing people for the amount of money they have and judging people for their lack of money the world will be a better place.
I wasn’t born into money but I’m grateful for what I have. Sometimes I wish I had more money and I definitely think my life would be easier if I did, but that doesn’t mean I put people who have more money than me on a pedestal.
If you are a long time reader of Dinks Finance you know that I have had my share of financial troubles in the past. I have no one to blame but myself and although it was a very emotional period in my life I am a better person because of what I went through. I worked very hard to be where I am today and for what I have today and that has made me appreciate the value of money. I don’t by any means consider myself upper class because I don’t think I am above anyone.
Just because I work in an office and another 33 year old woman works at McDonalds does that make me better than her? Absolutely not. I worked at McDonalds for almost a year when I was 16 and let me tell you it’s hard work. Maybe it doesn’t require a college degree, but by the end of the day I was exhausted.
For some reason life always seems to work out like that, people who work the hardest are paid the least amount of money. I actually don’t think salaries are based on the level of work. I think they are based on decision making powers. The CEO of a company probably works a lot less than a customer service representative at the same company, but he makes more money because he makes decisions that affect the lives of thousands of workers and stockholders. A CEO playing golf all day is not as tiring as a front line customer service representative who has to work eight hours a day dealing with angry clients.
Over my 18 years of working I have held a variety of jobs from a retail sales clerk in the mall to a customer service representative in a call center. I have definitely worked my way up over the years and I know that’s an opportunity not everyone has. I would love to have more money, but I don’t necessarily want the responsibility that comes along with it. I know that some people who make less money would probably love to be where I am and I would like to be in the position that many other people are in. But that just creates a world full of people with ambition, it doesn’t create classes in society – or does it?
Photo from Flickr
I think you are mixing up hard physical labor and other types of work when you say the hardest workers are paid the least. Do you really feel that a doctor doesn’t work hard? Or even the corporate executive you mention on the golf course? Most of the days are not spent on the golf course and just because he works in an office setting instead of digging ditches doesn’t mean he doesn’t work hard. Most of the time they are at work before the other employees get to the job and stay long after everyone else leaves. Plus, they frequently read trade journals and business publications at home. It is a little unfair to infer that only the lower paid people are hard workers. Perhaps you didn’t mean your post to come off that way.
I don’t believe in upper class. For me, we are all the same. There would be no greater than us nor lower than us. We are all people. We might live in different ways, we might have something that someone doesn’t have, but that does not mean we are not fair.