Our planet financially rewards people who are highly talented in one way or another, such as NFL quarterbacks, movie stars, talk show hosts, neurosurgeons and presidents of huge corporations. Even factoring in specialized training and relentless dedication to their craft, their income disproportionately dwarfs those of regular people who serve a vital role in keeping the world chugging along. The gap in prestige is just as wide.
Consider the lowly bus driver. Millions of people rely on their punctuality and motor skills every day to get to work, school or wherever. Yet one of the most common phrases a student hears is: “If you don’t do your homework, you’ll end up driving a bus.” What’s wrong with that? In hot, cold or rainy weather, hopping onto a bus instantly improves one’s comfort and frame of mind. If every bus driver on the road today had “done something with their lives,” sidewalks would be overflowing with people walking for hours -- sweating, shivering and being chronically late.
Plenty of more lucrative occupations make people sad rather than happy. Lawyers and goalkeepers spring to mind. Coincidentally, they earn a great deal more than bus drivers, teachers, day care providers, nurses and other folks who are in the business of helping people.
To help rectify these disparities for Earth 2.0, I offer you two possible scenarios…
Plan A (Economic): Let’s say a singer earns $8 million a year and a policeman earns $60,000 a year. Divide the difference by 10 percent, subtract it from the diva’s salary and add it to the cop’s salary (without anyone realizing what you’re up to). The adjusted figures are now $7,206,000 and $854,000. Still a huge gap, but the public servant could live a much more comfortable life and the musician would have less of a tax burden. Win-win!
Plan B (Prestige): Keep the revenue flow the way you have it. To boost the prestige of a low-paid worker who provides a valuable service to the general public, whenever someone shakes the person’s hand or when the person applauds at a public event, their face lights up in a soft white glow and pulsates a few times to draw attention.
I'm partial to Plan A, but I'll let you decide. Or surprise me with something entirely different.
July 14, 2011
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