The Price of Dignity

"Man! the cost of everything is going right through the roof…can you believe this!” This is what I heard during a recent visit to the grocery store in my community.  It came from a man while he was going down one food isle than another.  It sounded like he was having a hard time understanding why the cost of food commodities was going up and up.  And to his defense he was just thinking out loud and reflecting on his displeasure at how expensive food was becoming.   

Like this man, many of us are in the same state of mind and feeling the same way.  For most of us we are having a hard time seeing how to get ahead when our wages are not keeping up with inflation, hours being reduce, limited overtime, cuts in health and other vital benefits.  In a real sense most of us are just happy to just have a steady job these days, especially since the economy has not fully recovered.         

There certainly has been a lot of belt tightening over the past few years and it seems that we have a few more years to go.  It also appears that those in government do not fully understand what the average person and family is going through each and every day.   It gets even more challenging when we see that a lot of people in upper management of companies are receiving big salaries, bonuses, and golden parachutes upon their retirements or when they move on to another company.       

The picture does not get any brighter for those trying stay in the middle class and it certainly more dismal for those of us who are the working poor.   The odds seem to be always against us, never getting a break, just holding on and just struggling to keep our heads above water.   Remarkably the hardest thing to come to grip with in life is to learn how to remain true to one’s values, beliefs and that with hard work and determination things will work out somehow.   I was taught by my parents and forefathers that your true self will always remain the same, regardless of what happens or will happen in your life. The greatest strength a person can show is to always keep one’s head high when others are losing their.