To Whom Much is Given

Tomorrow is Labor Day, my last official one while still an active member of the working world. Since my first full-time, non-summer job was one I took during my freshman year at University of Richmond, it turns out that my working life encompassed the years from 1977-2024. Any inspection of those years will conclude that I had it much better than most of my ancestors, and maybe slightly worse than a much smaller number. I was fortunate not to have been of soldiering age during any major or minor wars. I never had to experience anything approaching the difficulties of the Great Depression. My working career coincided with no significant illnesses or debilitating diseases. In my 47 years of working I cashed exactly one unemployment check. I have never been fired. I have never once asked anyone for a raise. I have never had to plead for paid vacation because it has never been available to me. For the last 32 years of my career I have not been provided with any benefits like health insurance, a 401-k, or pension plan of any kind, a secretary, assistant or office. All of these things I was responsible for providing myself. In addition, as a self-employed business owner I was responsible for both the employee and employer contributions to Social Security. But this was the life I chose. I wanted to be my own boss, and it wasn’t cheap.

If I had it to do all over again… I would. I didn’t have the personality type required to work for anyone else. I was too stubborn, too unwilling to give away any of my autonomy to someone who may or may not have had my best interest at heart. For my way of thinking…benefits and a guaranteed paycheck didn’t seem worth it. I fully understand why so many chose differently than I did. I feel no sense of superiority to them. To be honest, over the years there were many, many times when I envied those guarantees. Having no guaranteed income while raising kids can be a gut-wrenching experience. But again, I was either too stubborn or too stupid to do it any other way.

I am profoundly grateful for the many opportunities I was given to succeed. I feel lucky to have been born where and when I was and to have lived in a country that allowed me to make my own way as I saw fit. I am thankful for the public schools that educated me. I am thankful for the great and good neighbors who encouraged me along the way. I thank God every day for the family I was blessed to be born into, the mother and father who taught me how to care about somebody besides myself, to look out for people less fortunate then me. 

Kids entering the work force today have many advantages that I didn’t have. The technology available to them is too staggering for me to even comprehend. But I feel sorry for them in a way too. No kid can get a job working 30 hours a week and hope to put themselves through college like I did at University of Richmond years ago. The cost of higher education has ballooned to such ridiculous heights that nobody can work themselves through anymore. It was hard enough back then. Today it’s impossible.

But every generation makes their own way. My Dad survived not only the Great Depression but also a stint in the South Pacific in WWII. He graduated from U of R on the GI-Bill as a father of four while working the graveyard shift at Reynold’s Metals. My struggles look like child’s play next to his. All of us, everyone…stands on the shoulders of those who came before us. I hope that my shoulders hold up for my kids and their kids. It’s the very least I can do. Its like my Mom used to say, “To whom much is given, much is required.”