Are These the Worst of Times?

 

I know you feel these are the worst of times

I do believe it's true

When people lock their doors and hide inside

Rumor has it it's the end of Paradise

-- Styx, The Best of Times

Earlier this week Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said our nation has been “cloaked … in darkness for much too long. Too much anger. Too much fear. Too much division.” Mr Biden said, “history has delivered us to one of the most difficult moments America has ever faced. … The worst pandemic in over 10 years. The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.”

Mr. Biden said five million Americans have been infected with COVID-19. More than 170,000 Americans have died, and he maintains that this has been “By far the worst performance of any nation on Earth.”

Sounds pretty dark, right? This made me wonder, are we really living during one of the most difficult moments our country has ever faced? Are we actually experiencing a “chapter of American darkness”? Has our response to COVID-19 truly been the worst?

I then remembered years ago watching a compelling YouTube video by Professor Don Boudreaux titled: “The Hockey Stick of Human Prosperity. In this less-than-five-minute presentation, Boudreaux skillfully reviews the timeline of human history, and how the recent rise in standards of living resembles a hockey stick on a graph. If you examine progress and prosperity throughout the ages, the chart is flat for much of human history, and then skyrockets in just the last few centuries.

Boudreaux reveals that before the Industrial Revolution, life expectancy was about 30 years. Today in the United States we expect to live to about 80. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, about one in four children would die before the age of five. Today in developed countries that ratio has ballooned to about one in 200! And, due to better nutrition, today we grow about four inches taller than we were just 150 years ago.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), thanks to advances in medical research -- mainly in the US -- vaccinations protect against several diseases that used to be prevalent in the United States. These include: Polio, Tetanus, The Flu, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis A, Whooping Cough, the Mumps, Measles and more.

A global race is currently underway to develop and mass-produce an effective vaccine to counter COVID-19. The US government has initiated Operation Warp Speed (OWS), with the goal to deliver 300 million doses of a safe, effective vaccine for COVID-19 by January 2021. This is part of a strategy to accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. It is hoped this will be accomplished by investing in and coordinating countermeasure development. OWS allows a vaccine to be delivered to patients more rapidly while adhering to standards for safety and productiveness.

When it comes to prosperity today, even the least fortunate Americans typically have electricity, running water, toilets, refrigerators and televisions. Boudreaux says, “Those of us who live in modern, industrial society are incredibly, amazingly, off-the-charts rich, compared to our ancestors.”

Do we live in the “worst of times”? Life is indeed difficult and by no means do I intend to make light of those who are experiencing genuine adversity; but I wonder if it helps from time to time to examine root causes of division, anger, fear and contention. It wouldn’t hurt to keep things in perspective and remember how fortunate we are to live during such prosperous and promising times.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”

Sources

Styx Lyrics

https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/styx/thebestoftimes.html

Transcript: Joe Biden's DNC speech

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/20/politics/biden-dnc-speech-transcript/index.html

The Hockey Stick of Human Prosperity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9FSnvtcEbg

Diseases You Almost Forgot About (Thanks to Vaccines)

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents/diseases/forgot-14-diseases.html

Fact Sheet: Explaining Operation Warp Speed

https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/06/16/fact-sheet-explaining-operation-warp-speed.html

What is Gratitude and Why Is It So Important?

https://positivepsychology.com/gratitude-appreciation/

Is Equal Pay Fair?

 

I teach an online marketing class from time to time. I was recently asked to arbitrate a conflict between two students at the end of the course. They were members of a learning group that had the task of creating a detailed marketing presentation. The course assignment requirements specifically directed the students to each complete a portion to be combined later as a final presentation.

Unfortunately, one member of this particular team did not do his assigned part. He did not respond to their repeated inquiries. As a result, the others had to scramble at the last minute to research, write, design and complete the missing material before the assignment deadline.

Before grading the presentation, I reached out to the student who was AWOL to get his side of the story. He said he did not communicate with his group during the week because he was busy and didn’t understand what he was expected to do. I asked him why he didn’t make the effort to respond to his team. He offered a few feeble excuses, but he eventually admitted that he didn’t have a legitimate reason for not helping out when his team needed him most. He apologized, then, astonishingly, said he felt he still deserved points for the assignment!

During my 20+ years as a university instructor, I’ve noticed among some of my students a growing distaste for capitalism and an affinity for socialism -- simply because it’s a more “fair system.” Capitalism is ugly. Why should those at the top be paid so much when workers get so much less?

If I had implemented a “fair” grading system in this course and rewarded all students of this learning team the same grade, would that be fair? Absolutely not.

American economist Milton Friedman (one of the most prominent advocates of free markets) once said: “One man may prefer a routine job paying a higher salary; another man may prefer the opposite. If both were paid equally in money, their incomes in a more fundamental sense would be unequal. Similarly, equal treatment requires that an individual be paid more for a dirty, unattractive job than for a pleasant rewarding one. Much observed inequality is of this kind.”

John Stossel reported that Ben and Jerry of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream company once said they would limit the amount their CEO could make. They felt they couldn’t justify somebody making $1 million or more a year when their line-level worker can’t make enough to afford a house.

They announced their highest paid workers would make no more than five times what the lowest paid workers got. However, it didn’t work. Ben and Jerry were not satisfied with the people who applied. They ended up hiring a CEO at a salary not five times but 14 times more than other workers got.

That didn’t work out, so Ben and Jerry paid even more to hire another CEO. Then they sold the company.

Some might ask, what purposes do grades serve? According to Vanderbilt University, grades serve the following purposes:

• Evaluation of student work

• As a means of communicating to students, parents, graduate schools, professional schools, and future employers about a student’s performance in college and potential for further success

• As a source of motivation to students for continued learning and improvement

Motivation was the apparent challenge faced by my student who failed to contribute to his final team assignment.

George Bernard Shaw expressed it best when he said: “Liberty means responsibility. That’s why most men dread it.”

Sources

Capitalism and Freedom, Milton Friedman, The University of Chicago Press, 2002

Give me a Break, John Stossel, HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 2004

Vanderbilt University

Grading Student Work, https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/grading-student-work/ 

What I Learned from my First Job

Opportunity usually shows up in overalls and looking like work. -- Mike Rowe

My first job happened when I was 12 years old. It was summertime and while most of my friends were still sleeping in the morning I was selling donuts. My friend’s dad owned a local donut shop. Donuts were fried early in the morning, sorted, bagged, and then placed into metal wire baskets that were lugged by kids like me who sold the donuts to businesses in Salt Lake City. This obviously happened before more restrictive state child labor laws were passed.

First of all, why in the world was I even working during the summer break while other kids were having fun? I was raised in a home where we were taught the importance of self-reliance. My parents believed that becoming dependent on someone else for resources that we could provide for ourselves weakens us spiritually and physically and stunts our growth. I soon learned the satisfaction and pride of paying for something myself instead of asking Mom or Dad for spare change.

Working my route in the heart of the industrial part of town, I had a limited amount of time to sell about 12 dozen donuts (24 bags) before my boss came back to pick me up. I quickly discovered what businesses to call on consistently and those to avoid. I figured out how to count back change (each transaction was cash only). I knew what days of the week when certain customers would make a purchase and planned my sales calls accordingly.

I was also able to overcome self-doubt, approach strangers and speak to them with confidence. I learned how to position our product against the competition. Our donuts were more fresh tasting, moist and we offered more variety in flavors. I was able to discipline myself to wake up early in the morning and become an employee that my boss eventually trusted and rewarded me with better pay and more responsibility.

Work helped me learn the importance of:

• Being accountable -- Even when something isn’t your fault

• Delivering quality

• Being honest -- My boss would fire kids on the spot who stole from him

• Being reliable

• Being positive -- Even when others give you negative feedback

• Meeting deadlines

• Being an effective team member

• Respecting others -- Even when they are upset with you

• Showing tolerance

Work is a significant part of my life. And even though as a 12-year-old I reluctantly agreed to accept the offer of my first job, I’m grateful for the experience, how it positively influenced my life, and opened the door for better career opportunities.

Sources

Mike Rowe Quotes

https://www.azquotes.com/author/12706-Mike_Rowe

Mindtools.com