I loved your post and your compassionate understanding of the ones who keep the machinery of the world operating. In my forties, for the first time in my life I had a job that put me in daily contact with the working poor. Every stereortype I had ever held was shattered by their incredible work ethic, their good humor and their love of their families all while earning minimum wage.

The experience was the genesis of my outrage at the suggestion that these people are somehow looking for a hand out, that they could affort health insurance but they choose to have a bass boat. The people i worked with had to choose between insurance and rent or food for their children.

Thank you for recognizing their contribution and the risk they must daily live with.