In the past week there’ve been many joyous times in my life. One of the best was this morning, when Sweetheart Vivienne and I accompanied darling Jarrah and darling Indigo to their classrooms to start the new school week. Kate and her girls arrived late – because Indi slept in after her weekend birthday festivities. As we waited for them, I saw the Lollipop Lady (pictured) going about her business. Fluorescent, attentive, deliberate, measured. Impressively and compellingly so. As I watched her, it occurred to me what a responsibility society at large, and her community in particular, places on her. That is, to ensure the physical safety of a generation of schoolchildren as they enter and exit her workplace. She has no margin for error. One mistake would make her life intolerable. Unlivable. The captains of industry justify their multimillion dollar pay envelopes by the onerous responsibility they shoulder. Yet I’ll bet the pay rate of lollipop ladies and men is among the lowest in our workforce – despite their job being among the most responsible. Sure they may value their work for its intrinsic value, and also its community value. But its value to society is low – based on pay dollars. And, I note, their occupation isn’t among the 30 included in Roy Morgan Research’s annual survey of occupational ethics and honesty [1]. Ho hum. Despite this – no, due to this – I salute you, Lollipop Ladies and Men. Wherever you may work.
1 comment:
Lucky we were running late otherwise what would you have blogged about today?
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