What a pleasant, fulfilling, and productive weekend it’s been. I hope yours was just as rewarding! Again, big kudos go out to my fellow Roundup editor, Lindsey, and dahlin’ Alex writing Feel Good News. Wishing you all well on this Monday.
Corporate Policy & Ethics: Taking from self to pay his employees… Bravissimo!
Thank you to my dear friend, Leita, for forwarding this story …such a wonderful way to start off our week. “[Dan] Price, the founder and CEO of Gravity Payments in Seattle, decided to raise the minimum salary at his 120-person payment processing company to $70,000.
At a company where the average pay was $48,000 per year, the move — which was first reported by The New York Times on Monday — affected 70 workers, 30 of whom saw their salaries double.”
Holy crappola …that’s truly unheard of. “Thank you, Dan, from the bottom of my heart!!” I am honored AND grateful to know people of your caliber still exist. If only ALL millionaires and billionaires would be willing to give back a little.
Now Dan … he’s given back a ton! In other words, he literally took a $930,000 pay cut in order to fund these new salaries which he has instituted, giving him a salary of $70K this year …just like his employees.
Now, that’s outspokenly admirable …or sadly self-depriving. Just kidding — this is truly amazing and an exemplary act of selflessness, humility, and courage to drastically alter his own income for one year for the sake of his employees. I am humbled …again.
“In the U.S., the average CEO earns more than 350 times what the average worker does. Seattle has become a hotbed in the fight for higher wages as the city phases a $15 minimum wage, one of the highest in the country.”
I mentioned that it would be nice if all millionaires and billionaires would be willing to give back a little to those in need, then this world would be a different place. Now, please don’t misunderstand me: I’m not advocating “hand outs.” But I am saying that many many people find themselves in unfortunate financial straits due to circumstances not of their own volition.
So, I am saying have compassion and a generous heart: Give to those in need, my dear CEOs and other wealthy. You can give anonymously or openly …just give. You’ve earned your money through your own hard work, blood, sweat, and tears — I get it. And yet, if you’re living in excess and do not “need” 6 cars, 3 SUVs, 4 houses, 2 boats, and countless electronic toys and gadgets, then consider giving some of your hard-earned excess to those who could genuinely use it to eat or pay rent.
At $1000/month of rent, you could make a donation of $12,000 (only $12K …probably just a quarter or less of one of your fancy cars), and some family could live rent-free for one year, allowing them to pay of other debts and maybe get caught up. In turn, alleviating a huge stressor by enabling them to possibly “get in the black” for the first time in their 50 years of living on the planet. Boy, that might be ecstatically exciting to feel….
Human Rights: South Carolina petitioning Supreme Court to legally discriminate against gays and women.
Not sure I know where to start with this story…. The State of South Carolina submitted a brief of Amicus Curiae to the Supreme Court of the US, petitioning that they have a right to discriminate against two types of people in our world: Gays and women. Whaaat?
With all due respect to the power of “free will,” it’s my understanding most gay and lesbian individuals would say that they did not “choose” their sexual orientation. In other words, it is naturally a part of them, as is one’s gender of being a man or a woman: It’s not something they had or have control over. “This is who I am, just like my ethnicity or natural eye color,” is my understanding. And I say, “Amen.”
Disclaimer: If I have misunderstood the gay and lesbian community, and in fact, most make this “choice,” then please forgive me –I’ve got it wrong! And for what it’s worth, to those folks who have chosen this orientation, to you I also say, “Amen. I like you just they way you are …loving man, woman, or both.” I think most people know I’m a strong advocate for all of us simply living the lives we desire, without prejudice, from anyone and for anything we choose –simply, giving love and hurting no one or nothing in the process.
From my vantage point, I do not understand how people from South Carolina (or from any place else with bigoted beliefs) do not “get it.” Again, we need not agree with someone’s choices and lifestyle, but to actively advocate that they are “wrong” and must stop living the life that makes them happy is truly beyond me.
Isn’t it okay for people to do what they please under their own roof –save hurting others or themselves? Isn’t it okay for two people in love to walk hand-in-hand or arm-in-arm beaming of love and infatuation? Wouldn’t you like to be radiating joy, too? In fact, I believe “to love and to be loved” is one of the few responsibilities that we have here upon our magical Earth School.
Every person is different, and love speaks its own language, ie, we never know who will make our heart go pitter-patter. Emotions just “are.” They occur when we least expect them, and they exist outside of rational thought; hence, it’s a “feeling.” We cannot explain why or how we have said feelings –we just do. There’s nothing wrong with this –so leave them be, and enjoy your own love life.
And yet, South Carolina seems not to understand this train of thought, or at least is unwilling to live and let live. “Here’s the gist of South Carolina’s fascinatingly sexist argument. The state wants to prove that the 14th Amendment—which guarantees ‘equal protection of the laws’ to every ‘person’—was not intended to displace state marriage laws. And what did those laws look like at the time? One major feature: In many states, married women were not permitted to own property or enter into contracts and had no legal existence apart from their husbands. According to South Carolina, the framers of the 14th Amendment explicitly preserved the rights of states to deprive married women of the ability to function independently from her husband.”
“The crux of South Carolina’s brief, then, is this: If the 14th Amendment permits discrimination against married women, it surely also allows discrimination against gay people who wish to wed. In fact, according to South Carolina, the 14th Amendment forbids only racial discrimination, leaving states free to disadvantage women and gays in any way they wish.”
“Oy vay” … is all I can say (well, except for what I just wrote above –wink wink)!
Across our beautiful world, We Are All One.
Gavin