I understand your mindset, there are WAY TOO MANY taking advantage of programs and benefits provided by the government, and an overall entitlement sentiment from generations coming of age. I did choose to teach, but don't you want teachers that care and are effective. Same with police, fire, etc... we want people to make choices not completely based on money. Fathers aren't there for children in order to accumulate substantial wealth....what's best for that child? These are not areas the government can regulate. We can try to balance (NO, NOT COMMUNISM) the landscape. We can help make someone earning $60,000 / yr feel more comfortable.
You don't have my mindset pegged at all actually. Do people abuse the system? Absolutely, at every level this holds true. That doesn't bother me, it's human nature. Not taking responsibility for choices made and blaming others is what bothers me.
I do want teachers that care and are effective. I want them to do it because that's the calling they "chose". To turn around and ***** about the salary they make when choosing that profession is wrong. You seem like a smart guy, I'm sure you did your research ahead of time on what salary teachers make. So, you knowingly went into a career field for your own reasoning that mattered to you which limited your monetary options. You effectively have a max earnings potential. You knew that and you chose that path. So you placed the desire to teach and influence youthful minds above personal wealth. That's fine. I respect the hell out of that. My mother was a teacher.
I personally started working at 12 on the family farm making $4 an hour. Every summer I spent daylight to dark working in the hayfields instead of our fvcking off at the local pool and going to the lake like so many of my friends. I was climbing the ladder in our business and given more and more responsibility as I got older and earned that responsibility. By the time I graduated, I was managing the production aspect of the hay business we had and managing 7 guys to include negotiating salary and payment terms. I was responsible for ensuring success from the time the first blade of grass was cut to the last bail was in a customer's barn. I had my *** chewed in front of my team and my salary docked for my team's failure when it happened (because of choices I made and direction I gave). By the time I graduated high school, I was making $12 an hr and hauling cattle as far away as Iowa and Georgia pulling a 32 foot trailer with 20k lbs of cattle in it.
I decided during those years what type of life I wanted and essentially mapped out what I needed to do to achieve those goals. This included finding a spouse who shared that vision of what our future would look like and had an equally strong work ethic as well a career choice to realize it. These were choices that we made and we accept the sacrifices associated with it.
My stance is all about personal choice and accountability to self for those decisions. You made a choice which limits upward mobility and wealth. I don't look down on that. Hell, I applaud your choice, I truly do. But nevertheless, it was a choice you made.
In summary, yes, I want people to care about their jobs regardless of what they are. Where I have issue is when they bemoan those choices and complain about other people's stations and income, which certainly seems the case in the examples you illustrated in the Brad Pitt and LB from Cinci. They too made their choices that could have just as easily not worked out had they not put the effort forth to achieve their dreams. If you aren't living the dream you have for yourself, go back and reflect on your choices, make the necessary changes as you desire, or don't, but don't bemoan the choices and sacrifices others have made because they are more monetarily prosperous than you are.
