Donnie Douglas
Columnist
No one understands and appreciates the American Dream of hard work leading to material rewards better than a non-American.” — Anthony Bourdain
We have all been there, and it seems more frequently of late, idling at a stoplight, getting the hard eye from someone holding a cardboard sign with magic-marker lettering explaining why he or she is begging for money, and wishing the light would hurry up and go green.
That happened to me on Wednesday during a quick visit to Fayetteville, and although I didn’t roll down the window and shout “get a job,” I confess that the thought entered my mind. For those of you who just condemned me for my lack of compassion, let me explain.
I consider myself very charitable and can provide my tax documents as evidence. I have often slipped a few dollars to the person with the sign. I didn’t Wednesday, but he seemed to be doing quite well. He was certainly well-fed.
I was at the stoplight about 2 minutes I suppose, and he was handed cash from three different cars, and while I don’t know the total, for giggles let’s just say it was a modest $5. That works out to $150 an hour, substantially more than I am being paid to pen this. His “job” it seems anyone could do — although I will say this happened about 3 p.m. with the sun straight above and the temperatures in the mid-90s.
Busy intersections aren’t the only place where these beggars drift. It’s hard to stop at a convenience store, grocery store or box store in Robeson County these days without being approached, which has to be especially disconcerting for you ladies. I find myself doing a quick scan of the area when trying to find a place to park.
Those lottery tickets and cigarettes don’t pay for themselves.
Now a significant percentage of these folks are mentally ill, and a percentage of those would be veterans who served a country that now has turned its back on them. I understand that, and wish that we took better care of the mentally ill and those who served. It is shameful that we don’t.
But there is also a percentage of these people who are simply — I will say it — lazy, an assertion I make confidently given the number of help-wanted signs I see. Businesses are in a begging mode themselves, offering bonuses and better pay, which some argue is capitalism at work. I am not convinced, believing that government has tossed a wrench into a free-market system by offering an enhanced unemployment benefit as well as what seems like an endless stream of stimulus checks — tabs that will be handed our descendants.
The car dealers, I am told, are doing well, and flat-screen TVs are flying off the shelves.
I was among those tempted when I made the decision last August not to exploit the government largesse and instead took a $650 weekly pay cut to get out of the recliner, onto my feet and off to work for 30-plus hours a week. I figure that makes me a lot of things, but brilliant can’t be among them.
Although I traded a lot of coin for getting up at 6 a.m. three days a week, I had a selfish reason for doing so: I was trying to cling to what remains of my mental health. I tired quickly of getting up every day with nothing to do and all day to do it.
Given the current labor shortage, mine is not a popular position. I keep hearing that all that is needed is a bump to $15 in minimum wage, and workers will rush back to jobs they held pre-pandemic that paid less than that, often much less. Forty times 15 still falls far short of what many Americans are earning for their inertia.
While I am cool with a higher minimum wage, doubling it would be a death knell for a lot of small businesses and if you doubt that, all you have to do is ask some owners. We all know plenty.
I know it’s not quite as simple as I suggested. But it isn’t really all that complicated either. The truth is there are plenty of jobs out there for those who are willing and able to do the work
It seems that in the post-pandemic America — and contrary to what Anthony Bourdain suggested — too many believe the American Dream is no longer tethered to hard work. I find that incredibly sad, but scary in a larger dose.
Donnie Douglas is the former editor of The Robesonian in Lumberton.