Rich, poor gap grows wider

The Boston Herald

My sixth-grade teacher, Mr. O'Neil, explained the derivation of the word "salary" way back in 1957, when I didn't make a salary and didn't much care about the salaries of anyone else. He said, out of the blue, the way he said a lot of things, that in Roman times salt was scarce and of such value that Roman soldiers were paid with it. "It was called 'salarium,"' he said. "Salarium became salary."

Mr. O'Neil's salary was not salt. It was a paycheck at the end of each week, but not a paycheck commensurate with his value. He, like all teachers, made little compared to what he gave. He spent his days with more than 30 preadolescents prodding, provoking, inspiring, uplifting, even bursting into song in the middle of a lesson to get us on fire about something. Forty years later, I can still see him at the head of the class, passionate and energetic like a conductor directing a band.

I think of him today because of Boston magazine's cover story: "The Big Salary Survey. Who makes what? Does your paycheck measure up?"

Paychecks didn't measure up 40 years ago and they measure up even less today. The rich get rich and the poor - well, read "Boston" and weep. There's nothing new in the report, just all we know reaffirmed. Today's rich are very, very rich, while the one paycheck away from being poor are only "appreciated," toiling at jobs for which they get awards and praise and "employee of the month" certificates, but never the salary they deserve. On the bottom of the pay scale are college-educated professionals: social workers, school nurses and pre-school teachers. On the top are ballplayers, CEOs and celebrities.

"One Manny Ramirez," Boston reports, "equals 85 anesthesiologists, 193 full professors, 378 Boston firefighters, 411 MBTA bus drivers, 421 Boston Ballet ballerinas, 699 public defenders, 1,000 telemarketers, 1,425 Dunkin' Donuts workers." Who doesn't shake her head at this? Who doesn't think this is wrong? Manny Ramirez may be a great baseball player but neither he nor anyone else should be paid $ 20 million a year for playing a game.

And yet look at us forking over $40 a piece for grandstand tickets, paying $ 3 a coke, $ 4 a hot dog, or whatever the going rate will climb to this year, buying programs and ice cream, plus paying $ 30 to park. A family of four goes to a Red Sox game and drops $ 250 easily. That's a little less than a bank teller, a clerk at Star Market, a telemarketer and commercial fisherman bring home a week.

When our children have trouble in school, we're grateful for the extra time, before school, after school, that the teacher gives. (Boston Public School teacher starting pay: $ 35,996) When a parent or mate gets sick and is in a hospital or chronic care facility, we see how hard the nurses and aides work and wonder how they do it. (Hospital nurse: $ 36,691; certified nursing assistant: $ 8.50 per hour.) When we call 911 and the EMTs appear ($ 37,996) and save the life of someone we love, we wonder what would have happened had they not appeared. We think then that all these people should be paid better. But then our child straightens out, our mother gets better, the person we love survives and we move on. And forget. Until next time.

My friend works in adult day care. She works 60 hours a week not the 40 she gets paid for. Every morning she greets her people at the door. She knows their family, their history. She helps them with their coats, their canes. She helps them sit, stand, feeds them, holds them when they cry, sings with them, changes them, loves them. She's wonderful, everyone says. Giving. Kind. Sent from God. She's been doing this for more than four years. When she began, she made a little more than $ 8 an hour. Now she's considered well paid. She's making a little over $ 30,000 a year.. Professional dog walkers make $ 31,200 a year while certified nursing assistants make $ 17,680. "Keep in mind," Boston writes, "that the official poverty line nationally is $ 17,050 for a family of four."

Keep in mind that the gap between the filthy rich and the working poor grows wider every day.