Not Today

In an excerpt from a chapter titled “Everybody does it” in David Callahan’s book “The Cheating Culture,” several reasons are given for the increase of cheating in today’s society. One of the reasons given is income gaps have increased greatly over the past twenty-five years. The old saying of The Rich Get Richer applies here.

In the article, Callahan states, “the top one percent of households has more wealth than the entire bottom ninety percent combined.” (Callahan 20). This has put a large gap between the upper and middle class, and continues to widen each year. Income, for the middle class, has not kept up with the upper class, or the inflation rate. Many middle class American families struggler, financially, in today’s society.

My mother and father raised a family of four children, on a Meat cutter’s (butcher’s) salary. This was in the nineteen sixties and seventies. Back then, a new three bedroom house cost fifteen thousand dollars, a new car under three thousand, and gas went for twenty-seven cents a gallon. That family was considered middle class, and had a comfortable life. Knowing, what the cost of living is today, and what the average meat cutter’s salary would be, it is easy to see, that my family of the Sixties, would not have a chance today. You would not be able to raise a family on a meat cutters wages, in today’s world, and be considered middle class.
Financial pressures, I believe, have forced many Americans to get an edge financially. In many instances, this edge comes in a less than ethical way.

Notes
Callahan, David. “The Cheating Culture.” NextText. Eds. Anne Kress and Suellyn
Winkle. Boston: Bedford/St. martin’s, 2008. 19-24.

Family Ties

Could any man resist the temptation of evil if he knew his acts could not be witnessed? This is a question posed in an excerpt from an article entitled, “What the Bagelman Saw,” by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. I would like to simplify this question by asking; if you knew you would not get caught, would you cheat? I believe more people would answer yes to this question in the twenty first century, than would have in the nineteen sixties. The decline of the family is one of the reasons for this difference.

I was a kid in the sixties. Life was much slower then, and families were able to spend much more time together than today. They had time sit down and eat dinner together. I’ve heard this called the family table. In those days, most moms did not work outside the home, allowing them time o prepare the evening meal. I remember this being a time of sharing with one another. Family matters were discussed, and family values were taught. A sense of right and wrong was instilled in me during those family times, and the important thing to remember is that this happened almost everyday.

I think things are much different in today’s society. Families are so much busier today. Kids are involved in many more activities. Most households have both parents working fulltime, and as a result, the family unit has been weakened. Families don’t have the time to sit down and have a meal together on a regular basis. I believe, for the most part, the family table is a thing of the past. That time of sharing, and parental guidance happens all to infrequently. Families are unable to spend enough time discussing right from wrong, and without spending time together as a family unit, how can values be instilled in our children.

Let’s get back to the question. Would you?