Myths, Ideals and a Catalyst

How did the general populace fall for the myth that a big hearted beautiful shiny "America" and some obtuse definition of "HARD WORK"(tm) granted everyone their rights? How the did the fights of workers and organized labor get so lost in history?

I grew up with the belief that the best job in SF is working for the San Francisco Unified School District. A City job held a certain level of respect, security and leverage but I no longer see that respect nor that security. As benefits are stripped away and the cost of living is factored into the superintendent's paycheck but not ours, I am losing my patience and my hope.

But at least this is balanced by a gain of respect and hope in my fierce coworkers and union leadership. Although the usual tactics involve offering up the faces of The Youth as rallying cries for action, I will not invoke the children in this passage. Instead I am going to invoke my father. I am doing this for him because he's put his life into this city and now, as a strategy to cut off the dead weight and fix future budget crises by denying full retirement to long-time workers, he is about to be laid off. This threat has been held over him for years and within the next few months it materializes into a fight or a whimper.

Things need to change.
And I need to change them.