Monday, May 22, 2006
Great post by TNP's Joanna HughesLast week, I read a great piece of social commentary in The New Paper, by columnist Joanna Hughes, and I would like to share it with you guys.
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All workers need respectBy Joanna HughesIN the last two years or so, we've heard a lot about work.
We've read about people who lost their jobs and had to downgrade, and people who need jobs but won't take what's on offer because they might lose face.
And then there are the fresh graduates who want the moon right now and the five Cs in five minutes.
It seems to me that there are several things going on here.
First, we have lost sight of the fact that no matter what the job may be, we have to accord the person who performs it respect.
To many of us, the men who remove our rubbish and the sweepers who pick up our litter on the streets are invisible.
Or if we do see them, we think of them as 'others', 'aliens' or 'foreigners'. Maybe we even shy away from them.
But think of this: If all the people who clean our toilets disappear tomorrow, what would our lives be like?
Only when we no longer think of those workers as disposable or cheap or even somehow less human, can we truly begin to respect them and their jobs.
Respect also means we value these people, and that means decent wages, housing and access to medical care.
Some of our foreign workers, the same people who build our homes and offices, live in conditions that would get a pet shop closed down.
Just think of the incidents when foreign workers are hurt because supervisors couldn't be bothered to take basic safety precautions, when badly injured workers were abandoned by their employers.
There are maids who have no rooms or beds of their own, who sleep on the floor or a sofa, who are up and working before dawn and still working 14 hours later, and who are abused by employers (not always physically, but often emotionally).
They occupy a strange space in our society: Adults, many with families of their own, treated like wayward children and kept virtually under lock and key.
Why do we need so many maids?
In cases of the elderly who need special care or people with disabilities or chronic illnesses, I can see the case for maids.
But so often I see maids performing tasks that could be done by machines. Why have a maid wash sheets by hand in a tub when a washing machine will do it faster and better?
I regularly see one crouching in the street in the dark washing her employer's car - and flattening herself against the car when lorries go by. This, when nearly every petrol kiosk boasts a car wash.
I've seen another maid stand in a changing room to hand a 12-year-old girl a towel and heard stories of kids who won't get themselves a glass of water.
Parents who are obsessed with which milk powder can boost their little one's IQ turn their children over to minders who are barely literate.
Do we really need these maids so we can work? Families in the US and Europe manage without them, including those with two working parents who often have a long commute to work.
Or is it a matter of status? Of face? Of not wanting to do jobs that are 'beneath us'?
Of course, many of us who work don't receive the respect we deserve either.
I worked for a man who would clap his hands when he wanted his secretary. I've seen bosses stand by, arms crossed, doing nothing, while their staff struggle with crowds of customers or overwhelming tasks.
A top medical administrator got down on her hands and knees to clean up spilled coffee when her own staff said it was not their job.
People in the service industry tell horror stories about abusive customers, and customers tell tales of abuse by service staff.
I am beginning to think that this is all part of the same pattern. But I think we can each make a difference if we begin by thinking about the people who make up our world, no matter how humble they are.
Put yourself in their shoes. Think about what their lives are like - and what yours would be like without them.
And then, at least, give them a smile, a word of thanks and - respect.
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There you have it.
If we take down our ego and try not to impose that sense of 优越感 on others, imagine what a nice world we would be in.
Please ponder over this article and try to spread it around.
Who knows?
You might have just made the world a better place.
Smile =)
lowtide blogged @
8:46 pm
