There used to be something noble about taking a low paying job, especially if it was in pursuit of the betterment of others. In my parent’s generation, there was a certain charitable nature to it, at least the way it was taught to me: You’ve been given so much, you should dedicate your life to others, so they can have at least half as good a chance as you had.

Teaching and Caregiving fall into this category. Both are topics that my mother holds degrees in. She has a Masters of Family and

My mother used to teach Gender, from a Feminist perspective, as well as some Sociology courses at University of North Florida. I always found it very curious that she would carefully distinguish herself as an adjunct professor, as opposed to tenured, when asked. But as an educator, these things matter. You’re not doing it for the money, the benes and the perks of the University Life, because adjunct professors are not granted those to the same degree that full time professors are. Adjunct professors barely cover their costs, they are often subsidized by well-to-do partners, or, they take a so-called vow of poverty.

When I think of Nuns and Monks and people who are as poor as a church mice – as the saying goes, there is a certain romanticism to it. More money, more problems, said The Notorious B.I.G., and I tend to agree.

But when the Hotel Workers at Marriott went on strike a few years back with picket line signs that read “It should only take one job” – meaning they couldn’t get by on the wages that this primary job was paying them? A billion dollar company, underpaying their staff such that these are the working poor, uninsured because the job is only a part time job, (allowing the company to avoid having to pay healthcare premiums for it’s blue collar workers) some of these folks living in a food desert, and requiring two and three jobs just to make ends meet, this was the reality.

The way our country burns through its resources; our water, our gas, our solar energy, our people…it’s as if our supply is simply inexhaustible. If you’re low wage, in a vow of poverty, to dedicate yourself to “the cause” is to allow yourself to be exploited, to a degree. Sure, if you’re a coddled housewife with a lot of guilt that you want to assuage, go ahead. But most underpaid folks don’t fit into that Monk/Nun/Social Worker category.

Not paying a living wage, not providing health care for your employees: these are choices we give our American companies? I don’t get it.