Enough.

My son is a super-hero.  At six years old, he understands basic issues that seem to elude our state legislature.  Take last night, for example.  Myles grinned at me and opened his hand, to reveal a shiny quarter.  "I'm going to put it in my give jar," he said.  "Really, it could be for my wallet, but I don't mind putting it in the give jar for the poor."  He paused as I squeezed toothpaste onto his toothbrush, then said (in the voice he uses when he's trying out a new idea): "You know why people are poor?"  "Tell me," I responded.  "Well, they are poor because they don't have a job to make any money, and without money they can't buy things for themselves like food or clothes or anything.  Or, a robber comes to their house and steals everything and that's why they are poor."  "Yes," I said, "and sometimes poor people do work, but they don't make enough money to buy everything they need."  His brow furrowed as he processed this information, and he looked confused.  "Who works but doesn't make enough money?" he asked.  "Oh," I said, "lots of people.  Like the people who take your order at McDonald's or the ones who clean our hotel room after we leave.  The people in other countries who sewed your clothes together and the ones who climbed up a tree to chop down your bananas."  I'm never sure if I'm taking this too far.  He's six.  I didn't know some of this stuff until I was in college.  "But why don't they get paid enough money?" he asked.  "The companies they work for don't want to pay them what they deserve," I said.  "Well I think everyone who works should make enough money to live," he concluded.

So do I  Myles, so do I.

Today, the NC legislature is debating a bill that would prohibit city and county governments from requiring private contractors to pay a living wage or require paid sick days.  Click here to contact your Reps and Senators and urge them to protect our local living wage ordinances.  All the quarters in our children's give jars cannot begin to cover the gap between the wages of the working poor and what it actually takes to make ends meet.