There's evidence of this all around. I just wanted to use my platform and voice to draw attention to it. And hopefully reverse the curse, at least in part, and spread a little more love and empathy in this cold, hard world that we all share.
To me it feels like that people are being devalued. Devalued at work. Devalued by the elite. Devalued in everyday living. Now I don't have the exact numbers, but there are a lot of people living on planet Earth. Some people think too many people live on planet Earth, and favor various methods of depopulation: abortion, euthenizing the aged and mentally challenged. But I'm here to say that ALL human life has value.
One of the common vocations that people love to kick is McDonalds. Working there has become a crass punchline for jokes. "... okay, we'll you can always work at McDonalds." "Do you want fries with that!" That kind of thing. But I'm here to say, that if you try--no matter what your vocation, you have value and deserve to be respected.
The older I get, the more I see more and more people devalued. Devalued at work as there workplace invokes changes seeking to cycle existing people out, and bring cheaper workers in. Loyalty to employees? Good luck finding that in today's society.
Somehow, someway we as Americans gotta get back to the way jobs used to be in this country. A time and place where people could feel secure, raise a family, and prosper. When I hear of people that have been at the same job 20+ years my heart swells with pride. That's the way life should be. These days, however, that's become more and more rare.
So what can you do to reverse the curse? Well, hopefully later in Trump's presidency he can address this. I would like to see employers be incentified to provide their employees with 40 hour work weeks. To me, that should be an American staple. One of the worst trends I've seen in business for the past 20 years is more and more part time jobs replacing full time work. The evil in that is that it doesn't allow people to earn enough money to live and prosper. I'm not in favor of artificially raising the bar by raising the minimum wage. That's the wrong track. What we need are full-time jobs with set hours. THEN if that's enough for someone to live on, they look to part time work beyond that to supplement their lack.
On a personal level I think we all should look around and show kindness to our fellow man who IS WORKING and trying to provide for their family. Personally, I actually try to instill worth in people I met. At a job site a few years ago I read a sign on the back of a chair that made me very sad, it read, "Talented and valuable". Why did it make me sad? Because it showed that someone had to tape on a sign to this place where someone worked to artificially instill a sense of worth to someone else. That made me think that this hard-working and honorable American was suffering from low self-esteem. I see it on the faces on people all time, uncertainty.
There is more to life than your job. Your job doesn't define you. As human beings we are all made in the image of God, and God gifts us all with unique skills, tastes and ambitions. One of the hardest things for people to realize is that not only does God love you, but He loves the guy next to you as well.
I'm pro-people. I'm very good at it, like my mom who loves people. But I recognize the truth that God loves people and has a greater plan for their lives. As I'm living out my life, God is working in their life to bless them. Gotta get off yourself and realize that even in a world of many billions of people that the Lord is a very personable God. He loves people! Not just person, but people. Brown skin, Asian, whatever. God loves them and wants to have a personal relationship with them. For me as a Christian, I need to be cognizantly aware of that. That God gives gifts to all. Even people I don't like--He does!
Life is more than just your own personal journey. God loves people. Even in a corporate culture of devalued people, God is NOT like that. He loves people, and as His' children its our responsibility to model that cool aspect of God's greater nature. Since God loves people so much that He gave His one and only Son to die on a cross and become our salvation, I too need to model that behavior as best I can. No, I'm not Jesus, and wouldn't attempt to claim as much even on my best day. But one thing I can go is know Him and model His character as best I 'm capable of doing.
The Lord is good. And He and He alone is the one who places our true value on us, NOT our jobs, not society.