Am I My Brother’s Keeper?

​This country, if not the entire western world, has drifted away from the principles that gave us our civilized lifestyle. In 1968, we decided that God was dead. In 1989, we decided that we are no longer our brother’s keeper.

Why, 1968? That’s when the hippies decided they knew more than anyone else about how we and the world in which we live were created.

Why, 1989? That’s when the whole downsizing mess began. It started in government, when Washington decided to follow London’s lead and privatize. Well, now there may be some validity to doing that. After all, the government had grown so large that it was trillions of dollars away from being able to pay its bills.

Then, in the early 1990s, private industry jumped on the band wagon. Employers began laying off American workers and hiring foreign ones. It was all for the sake of the profit margin, we were told.

Middle managers were laid off. Many who had worked under those middle managers were laid off. Suddenly, those who remained were supposed to be able to work the jobs of two others, as well as themselves. No matter that they were not trained to do that other work. Suddenly, a subject-matter expert was supposed to wear the hats of a writer-editor, a database manager, and perhaps even one or two other job titles. In their quest to keep up, these overworked, sporadically qualified employees would pretend not to have spouses and families, lest they appear to have loyalties beyond the work place.

Somehow, no one bothered to ask why upper management never seemed to be included in the layoffs. Instead, they gave themselves salaries so large that most people couldn’t comprehend the sums and benefits with such names as golden parachute clause. Somehow, no one bothered to ask upper management why they were on the golf course and enjoying three-martini lunches while their employees hid lunch their desk drawers and sneaked bites while no one was watching.

Similarly, no one asked what those who were laid off were supposed to do when the bills came in. Nor has anyone asked who is going to pay the bills when these downsized employees need medical care, geriatric care, and even a place to be buried. It’s not that these people don’t want to work. It’s that society won’t allow them to work. There’s cheaper labor overseas, and besides, upper management doesn’t have time to worry about such mundane matters as the worker bee; he’s late for his appointment on the golf course.

Consider the pyramid. The base is broader than the apex. What happens when the worker bees who make up the base are removed? The base becomes weaker and weaker until, finally, the pyramid collapses.

Perhaps, just perhaps, the management principles that have been so carelessly thrown aside had more merit than today’s society realizes. Perhaps, it is time to take another look at both those principles and the principles of civilization behind them.

Update (June 2023):

For the past five years, the downsized and retired have been forced by the high cost of living from their homes and into their cars and minivans. As predicted, the cost of living has grown astronomically, while job security has steadily declined, making it difficult for anyone to save for old age. To add insult to injury, the federal government still owes in the trillions of dollars and is threatening to cut off benefits to the unemployed and the retired. If this simple writer could deduce where forcing people out of work would lead, why couldn't our leaders in Washington? Maybe it's time we asked them that question and gave serious consideration to replacing them with leaders who are ready, willing, and able to lead.