Minimum Wage?

So  I was just looking through FaceBook, and came across a set of two pictures. In the first picture, you see a girl closing a to-go bag of food, presumably from McDonald's. In the next set, you see three EMS personnel moving a stretcher with a person on it towards the ambulance. The caption: "$15 Per Hour Because We're the Same."

I get that fast food workers have evolved into being working parents who can't get another job, regardless of the reason, and depend on their income for the care of their  children. I understand wanting to raise minimum wage in that instance to take care of one's family. However, I don't agree with this. These types of jobs used to be for kids who were in high school, and maybe the first year or two of college. The jobs *should* teach customer service skills, adherence to workplace policies, and provide an entry point into the world of work. These jobs were NEVER designed to be careers. I don't think these types of jobs are "lesser than" or "not as worthy as" other jobs; people sometimes need to eat on the go, and getting their food from places like McDonald's might be the only or easiest option at the moment. Personally, I question the healthiness of food from these places, but that's a whole other issue.

The set of pictures I mentioned above brings up an excellent point. EMS personnel--fire fighters, police officers, EMTs and paramedics, and others--work in dangerous conditions more often than not. Sometimes the danger comes from the environment, such as when a person has fallen off of a cliff and must be rescued. Or the person is standing at an open window, screaming for help as flames from the house fire reach ever closer to his or her location. Other times, the danger comes from people nearby. The drunk parent who is trying to hurt his or her child. The person who is high on whatever drugs he or she took is either trying to hurt herself or throwing rocks, knives, tomatoes--or shooting bullets--at the EMTs and paramedics who are trying to get to the injured person. There are many other scenarios that make a situation dangerous. Yet, the EMS personnel go in and do their best to help the people involved anyway. Considering all this, why is it fair for someone who works inside, preparing food according to specific instructions, to be paid the same as these people, who not only work in less-controlled atmospheres, but also have had to obtain significantly more education and training?

The issues with such a high minimum wage transcend many different levels; the type/race of the people involved in working at fast food places is only one of those levels. Whether or not you are legally allowed to work in the US is another level. I am not commenting on these or any of the myriad other levels involved in the "raise the minimum wage" argument. I am saying that I do not believe it is appropriate for fast food jobs to be given the same wages as the career positions that EMS personnel obtain education and experience to get into. Our EMS personnel are frequently abused and unappreciated. To many people, they are simply another uniform, and to some of those people, the uniform itself represents what they don't like. This is something we need to change, although it is another issue for another time. When I first got certified as an EMT, the starting wage was $8 per hour. Fire fighters, police officers, and paramedics made more, but they had more education, experience, and more and higher-level training. With that said, EMS is not a field that people get into for the money. In most cases, it is because they are interested in the field, they have a genuine desire to help others, or some other reason known only to themselves. Yes, some are "bad apples." Those pop up in any and every type of job, including food service. Again, a whole other issue for another time. The wage provided to those working in food service needs to reflect their job. If the workers want more money, they should find a better paying job, doing something else. Yes, this can be difficult, especially with little or no education. I don't claim to have all the answers here. But I don't think it is fair to pay someone who slaps a burger onto the bun, with or without cheese, the same amount as someone who has provided medical assistance to a man with severe bleeding while dodging a hail of bullets.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day. Today is the one day of the year that is specifically set aside for remembering our servicemen and women who gave their lives for our country. These brave men and women should be remembered and thought about. However, there is more to this than just setting aside a moment of silence at 3 pm to think about them. We should remember them all year round. We should consider the servicemen and women who saw their friends/teammates die; the families who lost their father/brother/uncle/son/daughter/sister/niece/mother... in the name of our country's freedom.

Memorial Day is NOT just a day to briefly think, "Oh, yeah, military guys died on this day. Well, time to break out the BBQ!" Memorial Day is NOT the only day on which we lose/have lost heroes who willingly sacrificed their lives for our freedom. Memorial Day is NOT simply the day that begins a summer full of vacations and fun at the beach or the one day of the year that we should remember those brave military personnel.

Memorial Day is the OFFICIAL day of remembrance. Memorial Day is ONE of the 365 days of the year that we should take at least a few minutes to think about the servicemen and women who have died in the cause of freedom. Not just as people in military uniforms, but as PEOPLE who lived, who had families and friends and in many cases, children, who loved them and miss them greatly. People who stood for the principles of their country, whether they agreed with the current President or not.

Consider also the loss suffered by these military men's and women's families. The loved one they can no longer hold onto. Or share with. Or enjoy holidays such as Christmas, Hanukkah, or other religious holidays with.  Or, in some cases, whose graves they cannot even visit because the military relative died in a foreign country and was tossed into an unmarked grave somewhere to rot.

I beseech all of you to spend more than just a couple of minutes today thinking about all this. But also, and more importantly, think about it throughout the year. Be grateful for these heroes willing to fight for what is right in all wars. And for those of you who have children, instill in them the patriotic sense of duty that President Kennedy described when he said, "Ask NOT what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." We will need more heroes throughout the coming generations who are willing to fight for our country's ideals, even to the point of death. And we need to ALWAYS be grateful for them.