Despite our good natures, our concern for nature and the environment, and our humanitarian dispositions, we are still by nature, covetous. Not in the greedy, avaricious manner that the word accurately implies, but with subtlety, we would love to have the trappings of the more affluent, wouldn’t we? Not all, and not always, and not always for ourselves, so...
It’s our nature to want the better things in life, that being what has driven progress, socially, technologically, scientifically, architecturally, ecologically, environmentally, economically... well, you get the idea. So, from those perspectives, we can’t complain, can we? However, there are sectors of our societies, all societies, that must occasionally look askance and ask themselves why am I doing this? Why do I not have a 9 to 5 job that I can forget about when I go home? Why do I not have a work-life balance? Why am I paid a worker’s wage for what I do? I’m referring, of course, to those three bastions of every society, our teachers, nurses, and police, who are the three pillars of every, and any meaningful society, yet we, societies, treat them with appalling, bordering on callous, disregard, in terms of reward.
Health professionals are rarely motivated by ‘the money,’ however doctors do end up on a pathway to wealth, while our nurses are comparatively, on a pathway to penury, their salaries little better than shop assistants and secretaries. We rely, surely, upon their passion, compassion, and concern for their fellow human, to keep them ‘locked-in’ to nursing, yet we will not value them. The doctors of this world are amazing people and deserve every reward they get... yet they do not the messy, dirty, unappealing side of their profession. “Nurses,” wrote Jean Watson, “are a unique kind, with an insatiable need to care for others, which is both their greatest strength and their fatal flaw.” But this, we all know... so why not reward them better?
Our police, again, anywhere in the world, put themselves between us and the lawless. They protect us, and they are another sector of society that can take off and hang up their uniform after work and ‘unbecome’ a policeman. When you are a policeman or woman, you are a one for life, and the reprimands, penalties, and restrictions that go with the job are rarely forgotten by miscreants. The policeman’s prayer asks for the courage to face and conquer their own fears and go where others will not. It seeks the strength to protect others and lead them to safety. It calls for dedication to their jobs and their communities. It begs concern for those who trust, compassion for those in need, and finally, for God to be at their side. Given these standards... surely, they deserve more?
And what about our teachers? Oh, you all throw your hands in the air... “They only work from 7 till 2, or 8 till 3, and they don’t work half the year...” Try being a teacher and explaining how much of what goes into your workday, your work week, and your year. Typically, whoever you are talking to will either dispute your version in disbelief, or ‘switch-off.’ They will dismiss preparation as “easy,” marking as “ticks and crosses,” homework as “getting us to do your job...” and so on. Yet, these same people will, without a moment’s concern, because it’s “their job,” place their children in the hands of a teacher, or teachers, for roughly 200 days a year with little concern and less support. How about some meaningful consideration?
Now some of you will be indignant... yet I will remind you... that these are your own sons and daughters. Your society’s sons and daughters. They are the best of the best, who do what they do because of the goodness of their hearts, their intellect, their compassion, their bravery, and their resilience, and not for the money. That doesn’t mean we should ignore them. Don’t make them beg for what little more or greater consideration they deserve, because if we paid them their true value... we couldn’t afford them.
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