I should honestly be doing my homework right now because it's coming down to the wire. But I want to talk about something else. Something that upsets me, but sadly I don't know if there's anything I can do about it. But here goes.
I came to McDonald's to grab a couple Big Mac's. I had a buy-one-get-one-free coupon, and I figured it's better to use it than waste it. As I was waiting in line for my food, I looked into the kitchen and saw this frail elderly woman by the fries. She was emptying them out of the fryer, and sprinkling salt over them. Seeing her, at her age, working there made me really sad. She shouldn't be doing such work for such little pay at such an age. I put myself in her shoes for a second...and all I could see through her eyes was misery and hopelessness.
I could see her kids refusing to help her with her finances, which made her resort to working in McDonald's. I could see her looking at her bills and worrying, as she has done for the past several decades, how she will pay them off. I could feel her thinking that she will work till the day she passes. I could feel her thinking that she doesn't get paid enough to provide a memorable time for her family during the holidays. I could feel her loneliness. I could feel her tears falling down her face. And, alas, when I stepped back in my shoes...I can't help but to feel so helpless for her. I want to tell her that she doesn't have to work here anymore. I want to tell her that her finances will be okay so she doesn't have to resort to a minimum wage salary.
But the sad fact is that I can't. I can't tell her all these things. Aside from possibly being completely wrong about my assumptions, I personally can't reassure anything for her. Not for certain at least. And it makes me feel sad. I wish I could help people like her, who deserve better, who deserve a little more from life than what she is given. I wish I could save the world. But I can't.
I'm not sad for myself. I'm sad for people who have to go through these kinds of things. At her age, she should be thinking of retirement, if not already at retirement age. I don't think a job at McDonald's will offer her enough for that. She should be thinking about where in the world she wants to go, the places she wants to see, the things she wants to do for herself before she is too old to do them, and the things she wants to experience so she can look back on her life and feel as if it was complete. Life is so much more than working inside of a building under some manager who may or may not treat you with respect. It's always a toss up.
I am sitting here in McDonald's right now writing this. I haven't taken the burgers out of the bag. I think someone else deserves these more than I do. I lost my appetite when I saw her. And I really want her to be happy one day, because the look of misery on her face is heartbreaking. I don't know why this affected me so much today, but maybe it's because I realized that everything good in life can be taken away in an instant, by any single person. And it is out of their control sometimes. I just hope I'm wrong about my assumptions, and that somehow, she loves what she does and finds joy in pulling out fries and salting them. I hope her family takes care of her, and I hope she gets to retire and do whatever she wants with the rest of her life.
I hope she's smiling.
"For what it's worth: it's never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you're proud of, and if you find you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again." - Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
I came to McDonald's to grab a couple Big Mac's. I had a buy-one-get-one-free coupon, and I figured it's better to use it than waste it. As I was waiting in line for my food, I looked into the kitchen and saw this frail elderly woman by the fries. She was emptying them out of the fryer, and sprinkling salt over them. Seeing her, at her age, working there made me really sad. She shouldn't be doing such work for such little pay at such an age. I put myself in her shoes for a second...and all I could see through her eyes was misery and hopelessness.
I could see her kids refusing to help her with her finances, which made her resort to working in McDonald's. I could see her looking at her bills and worrying, as she has done for the past several decades, how she will pay them off. I could feel her thinking that she will work till the day she passes. I could feel her thinking that she doesn't get paid enough to provide a memorable time for her family during the holidays. I could feel her loneliness. I could feel her tears falling down her face. And, alas, when I stepped back in my shoes...I can't help but to feel so helpless for her. I want to tell her that she doesn't have to work here anymore. I want to tell her that her finances will be okay so she doesn't have to resort to a minimum wage salary.
But the sad fact is that I can't. I can't tell her all these things. Aside from possibly being completely wrong about my assumptions, I personally can't reassure anything for her. Not for certain at least. And it makes me feel sad. I wish I could help people like her, who deserve better, who deserve a little more from life than what she is given. I wish I could save the world. But I can't.
I'm not sad for myself. I'm sad for people who have to go through these kinds of things. At her age, she should be thinking of retirement, if not already at retirement age. I don't think a job at McDonald's will offer her enough for that. She should be thinking about where in the world she wants to go, the places she wants to see, the things she wants to do for herself before she is too old to do them, and the things she wants to experience so she can look back on her life and feel as if it was complete. Life is so much more than working inside of a building under some manager who may or may not treat you with respect. It's always a toss up.
I am sitting here in McDonald's right now writing this. I haven't taken the burgers out of the bag. I think someone else deserves these more than I do. I lost my appetite when I saw her. And I really want her to be happy one day, because the look of misery on her face is heartbreaking. I don't know why this affected me so much today, but maybe it's because I realized that everything good in life can be taken away in an instant, by any single person. And it is out of their control sometimes. I just hope I'm wrong about my assumptions, and that somehow, she loves what she does and finds joy in pulling out fries and salting them. I hope her family takes care of her, and I hope she gets to retire and do whatever she wants with the rest of her life.
I hope she's smiling.
"For what it's worth: it's never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you're proud of, and if you find you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again." - Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
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