Imagine
for a moment that you find yourself at a building site. You aren't exactly sure
how you got here but it becomes apparent pretty quickly that you are meant to
build a house. You see mounds and mounds of materials everywhere. You estimate
by looking around that there is enough to build a decent sized home.
As you
are still getting the grips on how and why you are here in this spot at this
very moment, a crowd of "bosses" in expensive suits comes upon you
and scowls. There must be at least ten of them. Before you can even open your
mouth they start ordering you to "Get to work." When you try to ask
exactly what it is you are supposed to be doing they shout back, "Get
building! Stop slacking off!"
So,
still trying to piece two and two together you decide since it feels a little
intimidating and you still can't figure out how you got here, you'd best get busy. You
look around for some tools. At the very least, you can pick up a hammer and a
saw and find a set of blue prints and at least appear busy until you figure
things out. But no matter how hard you search, there are no tools in sight. The
angry "bosses" are off yelling at someone else but they said they'd
be back to check the progress so you figure you'd better at least ask them
where the tools are to save face.
"There
are no tools." they all tell you kind of quietly, as though they don't
want anyone else to hear and then at the top of their lungs blurt out,
"What? Are you lazy?"
You
insist that you are useless to the task without the tools you need to perform
the work. You simply can't drive nails or cut wood with your bare hands. They
insist you are trying to appear useless. They ask you how many tattoos you
have.
Then, a
guy walks up with a full tool belt on and asks if he is needed. You are pushed
aside and he is hired. The bosses kick you in the behind and send you on your
way.
"How
will I get back home?" You ask. "You don't deserve a home." they
tell you. "You are a failure and a deadbeat. You chose not to work."
You walk
away, baffled. You wondered how the new guy came across his tool belt. You had
never had one and although in the past it hadn't been an option, it was now
everything.
Being
born without a tool belt hurts. But you are helpless to change it. Your only
hope is that someone will lend you some tools so you can stay alive. But it
isn't likely because it won't look good to the "bosses." No one can
afford to be on their bad side.
If only
you can prove that you aren't lazy enough to have ditched your tools or you
aren't irresponsible enough to have lost them. You really just never had an
opportunity to acquire them.
Think
blindness or deafness. Some folks are born without a tool belt. They desire the same
opportunities as the tool bearers but are at a disadvantage. If the bosses
could somehow agree to level the playing field somehow, everyone could find a way to
produce income and would no longer be called lazy or be kicked in the butt and
sent away.
People
without tool belts are asked to build houses every day and then ridiculed when
they can't. People with disabilities are told to "pull themselves up by
the bootstraps" every day when we can't. Because it's easy to say
anything. It's harder to say something correctly. These bosses are a dime a
dozen. They have all the power today.
I can't
imagine an America without social services. I can't imaging not being able to
find food to sustain myself in a house-building-without-the-tools- manner. That's very scary.
What
would become of my living, breathing life? I shudder when I think of the
"bosses" who can only see the job materials and think that we are all
identical. I fear their ineptitude. They may be the life of me yet.
