Who are your working class heroes?

[deutsey]

"A working class hero is something to be."

So sang multimillionaire John Lennon.

My working class heroes are my mom (a waitress at a diner for much of my early life) and my grandmother (who worked in Baltimore shipyards during WWII).

Who are yours?

[CanuckAmok]

1. My mom, who cleaned rich peoples' houses to raise me.

and Emma Goldman, who was just awesome.

Eugene Debbs, Marc Blitstein, the Peoples Army of Stalingrad, the French Resistance... I could go on.

[deutsey]

2. Makes you wonder why there aren't more contemporary examples

doesn't it?

Maybe in the next few years more contemporary examples will emerge.

[Beware the Beast Man]

3. My mom: raised 3 kids on min. wage in the 80's with no govt. assitance.

After my deadbeat-ass dad left, she raised us, and paid the bills she left behind. She is a true survivor, and I love her for it.

[deutsey]

4. It's humbling, isn't it?

I have three kids, am married to a woman I love and who loves me, and I still find it puzzling how my mom raised me and my sister on her own by waiting tables.

[xmas74]

5. It's even harder to do that now.

I have to work two jobs just to raise one child. Everything costs more and we actually make less than we used to. Even school supplies-kindergarteners are expected to bring so much more than they used to. I had to have crayons, a pencil and a Big Chief notebook. That's it. My daughter's list is totalling up to about $100 dollars-for public school.
Can't get ahead for trying.

[deutsey]

8. It was hard then, too.

I remember times when we had no electricity because my mom couldn't pay the bill.

We also faced eviction at one time.

[xmas74]

16. I had a place where the water main exploded.

It wasn't my fault and I had a 1 year old at home w/ me-in July. No running water and no air conditioning. The landlord refused to do anything about it. He said that it was the city's fault. The city said that it was improper line work that the landlord had done. I went to the housing authority-they said that in MO a landlord does not have to guarantee water service, even if it is in their contract (I had free water since I lived in a trailer court at the time). I remember going to wash up at the community center for about a month. I also filled up empty jugs of water at work to take home. I had to use three-four at a time just to flush the toilet. And the water blew some of the electrical work in the trailer so we only had electricity in one room-my bedroom. We had to move the fridge into the bedroom just to have one. The stove didn't work so I had to use a hotplate and a cheap grill that I had bought at a garage sale. WE would go to bed at night w/ cold washclothes on our necks and foreheads just to try to cool down because the fan blew in hot air (it didn't work).
The next place I moved into the furnace went out in the middle of winter. The landlord didn't fix it. We slept in the kitchen in front of the stove all winter long just to stay warm and wore a couple of sweatshirts to bed every night.
I was not on welfare. I worked to pay my way and I still got screwed over. So many people don't understand that nowadays. They think that you deserve to live like that. I didn't have a choice.

[deutsey]

22. Thanks for sharing your story

My mom went on food stamps briefly but went off because she felt so ashamed to use them, even as we faced times where we couldn't make it financially.

[xmas74]

25. I did too.

And I was ashamed of it. The looks you receive and the nasty words that some of the customers would say in line-it was as if they thought you were too stupid to understand. They treat you like you are lower than dirt.

[Beware the Beast Man]

7. Well, minimum wage went a bit farther 23 years ago

than it does now, but things were still pretty bad.

[deutsey]

9. See post #8

[Beware the Beast Man]

12. Oh yeah, and the bill collectors, too.

This was in the good old days before the Fair Credit Act, when collectors had no qualms telling a 7-year-old boy his mommy was going to jail because she couldn't pay her bill.

[xmas74]

17. They still do it.

I had one call me at home when my daughter was three. We had a medical bill that the insurance was fighting. She grabbed the phone while I was in the shower (I didn't know that it was ringing). They told her that they would put me in jail and that she would not be able to see me again if I didn't give them money.
I got on the phone and they denied saying it. I know that she didn't make that up. But they have denied it to this day.

[deutsey]

23. "First, do no harm."

My ass.

Sorry, Hippocrates, but that ain't what American healthcare is about.

Today it's: "First, get paid."

[xmas74]

27. Exactly.

I was rushed in for a c-section. The insurance company fought it because they were not notified first. Guess what? My daughter will be five in June and they are still fighting it. In the meantime, it has nearly ruined my credit for something that they have to cover.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. My paternal grandfather

became an apprentice printer at age 15 and finally quit at age 70. Through wars, tragedies, and the ups and downs of life he never complained and always had a wonderful smile on his face.

My other hero is my step-son. He has worked hard at a number of jobs in order to provide for his family, including fast food, mechanic work, and now work in a factory. Never complains, and never asks for help (we give it to him when we can, though :))

[wtmusic]

10. Lech Walesa

a name almost unknown today.

[deutsey]

13. I remember him

When I was in high school and he was kickin the Soviet bear, I was very inspired by him. Same with Vaclev Havel.

[xmas74]

18. I heard him speak

at Westminster College in Fulton,MO. What a great speech!

[wtmusic]

20. In English?

I thought his English wasn't that good.

[xmas74]

24. translator and some himself (a few words).

http://www.westminster-mo.edu/cm/green_lecture/lech_walesa.asp

Westminster holds a fantastic lecture series that is open to the public. Most are free. I heard him, Gorbachev (when they were dedicating a piece of the Berlin Wall to the school), Thatcher,Nader, Kerry and Reagan.
I skipped out on Cheney and Delay.

Gorbachev gave an excellent speech and I felt honored to hear it, as did Kerry and especially Nader but Gorbachev's stands out the most in my mind.

http://www.wcmo.edu/News/speeches/gorbachev.asp

I wish that I had been alive to hear the most famous of all speeches done at Westminster. You've heard it before. It was given by Churchill in 1946 and was the very first reference to the "Iron Curtain".


If you ever make it to MO stop by Fulton. It's worth the drive.

[bigwillq]

11. My mom, dad and maternal grandmother

Grandma is now retired and dad retires in Dec.!

[Droopy]

14. Step-father who is a steel worker

Mom who works in a brewery.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

15. My brother

He was simply the strongest man I ever knew. He was a guard at several prisons and youth centers in Indiana, and after that he worked at the Post Office until a bad heart and an amputated leg from diabetes forced him to retire. Even after that he wouldn't slow down, and he held various jobs in several states until he died at the age of 40.

He was highly intelligent and had a sense of humor that few could come close to understanding or appreciating. His comic masterpiece actually came after he passed away-- they had to ship him home by plane. But there was a delay en route, and he was an hour late to his own funeral.

He was, and is, my hero.

[Mrs_Beastman]

19. My Mom

who divorced my dad, who left us $60,000 in debt(and always forgot to send the child support check)She when back to school for nursing and did pretty well(cum laude,became a nursing supervior preatty quick).

[warrens]

21. My mom

Worked as a respiratory therapist after my father hid all his cash and dumped her for a younger wife. We all made it through college with loans and grants and some money from the old man, but when things got bad, she came up with help. All her friends were younger, a lot of them gay, a lot of them way left. How she stayed a Republican, I have no idea, but at least she was a tolerant one. Until her mind started going, she never believed the GOP was headed for fascism. I'm glad she's not aware now to see what they have become.

[enigmatic]

26. Harvey Pekar and Bukowski

They both told it like it was, and Bukowski especially kept me alive for many, many tears..

[Magrittes Pipe]

31. Pekar quit his job at the VA after the movie came out.

I think he still lives in the Heights, though -- right around Cedar and Lee, if I'm not mistaken.

[enigmatic]

33. Yep..

When I was growing up in Clevo in the 70's and early 80's I met him a few time while slumming the rummage sales on Detroit Rd by The Big Egg and at the West 25th St bookstore; he was very quiet, but a nice guy nonetheless. I wasn't into Jazz yet so I never asked him his opinion on any sides; how I wish I had..

[tinfoilinfor2005]

28. The bus-boy at our restaurant whose name is J.J...

He is from Haiti and he works like a dog. And sends his earnings to Haiti to help his family and other Haitians. We help him collect clothes and bedding and kitchen products over the weekend garage sales, and deliver them to his church where they send these items in large quantities to Haiti. He mainly sends them to the poorest of the poor, especially those hit by the hurricanes and floods.

[supernova]

29. Studs Terkel

who wrote about working men and women all his life, mostly notable in the seminal work "Working"

[deutsey]

30. Excellent choice.

Studs is a true hero.

[WindRavenX]

32. My mum

Works her tail off so I can go to college.
She should be retired by now. But she isn't- she's working so I can get a degree.
I love you mom!!!

[tinfoilinfor2005]

35. and I hope she knows what a great kid you are...

[samplegirl]

34. My Mother & Father

We were the typical middle class family. My mother worked all her
life beginning when I was in second grade at the hospital as a
secretary. My mother who is still alive, age 90 still fighting to
stay alive. My father was a factory worker & worked 2 jobs most of his life. Much of what i have today is because of them.
Both of them knew the meaning of "Hard Work"
My father passed in 1995. Ive been caring for my mother since then.
Im ever thankful for all there sacrafices.