A vision thing

Jenny R., a call center agent, wrote to Our Times. And this is what she had to say:

“I read your article last May 18, 2008 entitled “Life at a Call Center.” All what Sandy said was true and I totally agreed with her. Many people think that we are earning so much maybe because of night differentials.”

“First, I would say that I love working in a call center. For me, it’s no longer just a job or service but a passion already. I’m used to working at night, it doesn’t matter anymore because I think I must learn how to cope with it. Like Sandy (a previous letter-sender), my concern is that we pay our taxes diligently but we can’t see the government’s effort to help us.”

“Sometimes, we are required to render overtime on our day off just to hit our targets. I was excited at first when I rendered my first rest day OT because it will help augment my income. But I was very disappointed when I saw in my pay slip that most of my extra pay just went to taxes. So I said to myself that I would never again render OT on my rest day. I know that we have to pay taxes to help the government but at the very least I wish we could see the results of our labor.”

Sandy and Jenny represent our young workforce. They are diligent workers – driven by the desire for self-reliance and professional growth. Somehow they feel that their government has not done enough considering the taxes they impose on the citizenry.

Poverty has several meanings. It is a physical state of squalor, getting trapped in the darkest dungeon without a key. But it is also a philosophical state where the right to aspire is hollow. Today, both definitions collide. And so I can understand exactly why Sandy and Jenny – total strangers bound by a challenging job – are compelled to write and be heard.

During the days of the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered his inaugural speech. It was March 4, 1933. The banks were closed; widespread unemployment had created a feeling of unspeakable hopelessness. Roosevelt, in his wheelchair having lost the use of both legs due to polio, addressed the hopeless generation listening to him on the radio.

He said,” This is pre-eminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So first of all let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

What makes us fearful is the absence of a vision. And as Roosevelt pointed out, “They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.” I believe that the “perishing” has begun. An idealist like Jenny now prefers not to render overtime work because she believes that her government does not deserve a share of her extra pay. This is a quiet and personal act of rebellion that has so far gone unnoticed. Multiply that by a hundred and you get a totally different picture of the real state of the nation. It is time for government to stop pandering and start leading. It is time for government to stop bickering and start listening to the people for a change. It is time to aspire for loftier things, bigger than 2010, more relevant than surviving today’s news cycle. It’s a vision thing. Without it, we’re not a nation, but just individuals trying to survive. (Panorama Magazine, June 29)