Your world works because other people do jobs that you can’t do. Either you don’t want to do them or you are not qualified to do them. I’m not talking simply about people with advanced degrees like doctors or lawyers. What about the people who inspect and care for your heating and air conditioning? The medical technicians who administer X-rays, ultrasounds, eye examinations?
Our community works because there are people doing the things that we need but do not do. We have more in common with them than we think.
They want decent housing, welcoming neighborhoods, good schools. They want the ability to truly enjoy their leisure time. They want to take pride in their work and be respected for what they do. They want a decent wage that supports those aspirations - - just like we do.
I wrote a post back in August of 2019 about how our communities contribute to keeping people in poverty when jobs don’t pay enough and available housing is too expensive. In Howard County housing is exceptionally expensive not just because we’re a desirable place to live but because we have a substantial shortage. This forces people who do the things that we need to make our world work to commute from cheaper places or pay too great a share of their income to live here. The cost of that expenditure then drains their resources.
We can’t keep ignoring this cycle and expecting those people to be here for us when we need them.
The two things on my mind this morning are the Pro-Housing Happy Hour held this week in Howard County and the continuing investment in workforce development programs at HCC. In both I see people and organizations willing to address this local imbalance we have which elevates some and renders others invisible.
I would suggest that we should care about other people in our community simply because they are fellow humans. Honestly, that should be enough. But at the very least we should be savvy enough to understand that the successful functioning of our lives is inextricably linked with those other folks who are not us.
They want decent housing, welcoming neighborhoods, good schools. They want the ability to truly enjoy their leisure time. They want to take pride in their work and be respected for what they do. They want a decent wage that supports those aspirations - - just like we do.
Supporting affordable housing options and creating opportunities for good paying jobs makes our community stronger. I get tired of people saying that if you can’t afford to live in Howard County then live somewhere else.
Can you afford to live in a place where the people who make your world work don’t exist?
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