When did you have that first conversation about work ethics that dove into the plight of the common worker and those terrible rich business owners? Mine was as a young lad sitting on the periphery as my father, his two brothers and a couple of friends sat around playing poker. It was in the early 60’s when the height of the labor vs. management was raging through much of the industries and trades in the United States. The conversations at the card table could become pretty heated since there was an uneven split between the players of corporate/management types (two) and labor/union types (three).

My dad and his oldest brother were of the latter category while the younger brother of the former. Things could get heated as they evaluated the political as well as the monetary discrepancies of rich compared to the middle class. The poor were never a consideration in the conversations, ah, sometimes arguments. I always listened intently because I saw that on the one hand, emotionalism sustained the argument of the majority over the other hand, rational-factual retorts of the minority players at the table. What was the real basis of what was happening and when did the deeper conversation about this with Dad play out? Continue reading →