This week, I’ve got a chip on my shoulder. I’ve got a problem with who is allowed to be paid for their work. I’ve heard way too many times lately, especially in this last week, that certain types of professions don’t deserve to be paid or rewarded financially very much. Among these professions are pastors, teachers, writers, artists, musicians, and non-profits.
I’ve discussed earlier that people often don’t see creative type jobs as legitimate jobs, but this is beyond that. This post is specifically about money. (It’s always about money, right?) I’m not sure why it’s okay to pay a football player $1 million to play a game, but we can’t pay teachers decently. I’m not saying let’s not pay football players or even not pay them that much, but why them and not a halfway house executive director? Why does the CEO of a failing company get a bonus, but when a pastor of a thriving church gets a small vacation as a token of appreciation, people cry foul? If you do a good job, you deserve to be rewarded. If you spend 60 hours a week doing a full time job, you should get paid for it. Working in charity is not only for the super wealthy. I shouldn’t have to be independently wealthy to be a writer. That’s one thing I won’t hand over to the 1%! You might be saying that writers and musicians can be tremendously wealthy. You have visions of Beyoncé and J.K Rowling swimming around your head. Here’s the thing though, 99% of us are not. We have side jobs or maybe even whole other careers besides writing or playing music. I also understand you see these super wealthy pastors on TV in gold houses and flying private jets, but your local pastor is not like that. He’s probably giving away the money that he would have spent on his own children’s Christmas for some other kid’s Christmas. It’s personal for me. I’m a writer and the child of a pastor/teacher and a music teacher. “That money you spent on a vacation could go to feed homeless!” I get asked for free books all the time. Those books cost me money to make. So far, I am so in the red on these books that I feel I will never see any profits. I have some writer friends that have instituted a no free book for any reason policy. They’ve been called rude. Would you ask Stephen King for a free book? That leads me to another thought: downloading books, movies, and music for free. Y’all! This really is stealing. How would you feel if you just spent your soul doing something and then people continually stole it from right in from of you? So when, when a friend of yours, even if it’s just an acquaintance, comes out with a book or an album, buy it! Full price. Be a patron of the arts. Support charity. Being a giver or a patron of the arts is no longer something just for the elite. Buy that painting. Please.
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AuthorI live in Athens, Georgia, with my son, my husband, and an ever-revolving list of exchange students, who are a never-ending source of entertainment and writing material. Archives
June 2019
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