MEA CULPA

 


     Okay. Since no one read me my Miranda rights, I think I'm safe in saying I'm guilty.
The question, is, of what?

   Today's I'll choose from one of the many things I am guilty of. This crime is passing on misinformation on Facebook and in emails. I'm really glad it's not a capital crime. Our court system is already backlogged as it is. Now I'm wondering if there is some kind of law about this. This is my brain, not on drugs.

    I do not recall what email I forwarded the first time I was admonished for not checking my facts. I was mortified. I was sent to Snopes for that one, and yes, I was wrong.
    Upstanding citizen that I am, I sent a second email correcting the first one. *AD  If you still pass those emails claiming that you will get money for passing emails, you need more help than I do.

    Since that time, I try to do my due diligence when reading a post or getting an email. As is often the case, the facts are spurious or sometimes, partially correct.

    I was reminded of this recently with regards to the Goodwill Industries post on FB. I don't know why, but I chose to believe it. I was horrified. Because.........

    We donate there a lot , mostly because it's so close to our house that it makes it soooooo easy. And like everyone else, we're too lazy to go out of our way. (I'm hanging my head in shame but you can't see it)
      The place I started to donate recently,  even before hearing this is Safespace, for abused women. Still, it's a schlep to  get there, so unless I'm headed that way I'm now have a dilemma. 

     ACTION      This morning I looked Goodwill up on Wiki. Wiki's site is also controversial since some of the people's contributions are made by me (well twice) and other individuals who may not know the facts.

     However, the majority of their information is fact checked by authorities so I still like to see what they have to say. The beginning of the selection seemed to contradict the post. The structure of the org. was described, as was the number of people employed, money generated etc. They appear to do a lot of good but are both a profit and nonprofit organization. A hybrid. Hmmm.  I wonder how that works.

    As I read on, I saw in the index, (remember my short term memory issues) a section I'll call, complaints or controversies.

    There were the accusations that appeared on FB.  For instance, one of the CEO's was making let's say, $794,000 a year. After this came out, that person agreed to take a 25% pay cut which brings them down to $774,150. I don't know who that person will survive.  I know. I did the math twice. It certainly sounds like a lot, but if you think about it, if you have a dollar and you spend a quarter, you still have 75 cents. (AD Do they have a cents symbol on the computer?  I can't seem to find it.)

    Paying the disabled less than minimum wage is legal and their argument for doing it is that if the law didn't exist, many disabled people would not be able to get jobs. Sure, but is it illegal to pay them minimum wage ? Because don't you think that's  the right thing to do?  Especially when the company heads are raking in really big bucks.

   One point is, that after the person posted it, she  then commented  that the information was incorrect. I was rather confused. Which you may notice is not so difficult to do if you have the knack. However, the post remained, until just before when I tried to find it and it was gone.  Of course, now I have to look the information up, and, well, it's not so completely wrong. They are doing  all the things that the post said they were. Only now I can't fact check the post because it's missing.

    Here again is my upside down world. Just because it's legal to pay certain people a lower wage, doesn't' mean you have to. Does it?  And just because you work really, really hard to help people doesn't mean you are entitled to a huge salary. Does it? Also, if you work hard or not, or you help people or you don't, you're not entitled to a huge salary when your employees can't pay the mortgage.  Just saying. Okay, I'm not sure the word entitled is the one I should use since it seems everyone in this country seems to feel entitled to something.   Thusly?

     I'm sure Goodwill provides a lot of work for people without skills. That helps some of the population. Although here in Florida, minimum wage usually means you  are entitled to work two jobs if you hope to make ends meet.  The profit part of the organization must be doing well, since they can afford to pay themselves huge salaries.

     I want to clarify that I too, may have some of my facts wrong.  I forgot to take notes  while reading the article, so the salaries and who made the compromise may be mixed up.  I now seem to recall that the head CEO had a salary that made him a 0ne Percenter. I'm reasonably certain that would be more than $794,000.  Maybe he took the 25% solution. 

     Anyhow. I'm supposed to be theorizing. Not just standing on my soap box so I'll look taller. (I'm 5'3" and feel short) *AD (digression).  Apparently greed is a strong part of human nature. Hoarding probably helped us survive when we were cave men. All it does now is make us want more, even when we don't need it.

    Now, if everyone had enough, it wouldn't be a big deal. It certainly wouldn't bother me. Maybe. Probably.   But I doubt that that has ever been the case on this planet earth.  

    There will always be people getting the short straws. Sometimes they are responsible for it. There are people who want to be taken care of and do not want to work or help themselves. My heart does not go out to you if you purposely fuck up your life.   
      
        Unfortunately I'm going out on a limb and guess that it is a hell of a lot more than just 1 % of the population.  It's a sorry state of affairs for which I have no answer.   Notwithstanding that, there are many, many people who have bad things happen to them and given the chance, would be able to dig themselves out of the hole they were pushed in. That's where organizations like Goodwill should come in.

     Right now you may think I'm sounding a little bit too much like a communist or socialist. God forbid. I'm neither. No. I'm just saying that the trickle down  money isn't trickling. I think someone should call in a plumber because it seems that maybe the hole where it trickles from, got stopped up and since the back flow is so slow, the people who should allow the trickle haven't noticed they have more than they are supposed to.

      So, what am I guilty of?  Believing that if it's written, it's true. I'm guilty of trusting others when I should know better. I'm guilty of donating to many charities that I haven't looked up.

     I don't do New Years Resolutions. I do, however,make plans to do things differently, like: organize things better and improve myself, even though I am perfect as I am. LMAO
     After I finish doing all the things on my list, i.e. : decorating for Christmas, cleaning up the detritus from redoing my room and Christmas, organizing my new file cabinet and other stuff I don't remember, I'll be sure to look up my charities. That will be easy since I write the check at my desk with the computer is right in front of me. No excuses. Easy Peasy.

    That's it for this topic. At least for today. Have a Happy.

keep scrolling down. For some reason, the comments are not close to the end of the writing of the blog. And I know you want to write comments and can't. You who have access to me, have told me.  I sent a comment to the survey people about answering my question,( which it didn't,) so I still don't know what's wrong.  And I'm reasonably certain they won't answer me either.

But keep scrolling. You never know what you may find.





I wanted to put a picture of the FB post, so I looked for it. It's not there anymore. I have a need to put a picture up, because, like a three year old, I like to have pictures in my magazine. Or blog.   So here is a totally unrelated photo..

Last year our friends and My husband and I went to Miami to the outdoor antique fair. As you can see, it rained. So I bought a French bowler hat from an English woman. This has nothing to do with today's theory. I  just like  visuals.
keep scrolling.