I continue to take moments to sift through the next layer of records that came into possession at my dad's death. This week Gwendolyn and I shredded a whole file box of tax records. Dad kept every cancelled check that he wrote (he was still receiving cancelled checks in 2003, when many banks had stopped returning them).
In the shredding process my eyes lit on two things that made me stop and think.
Over the years 2001-2003, Dad's annual premium for malpractice insurance (he was a general surgeon) averaged $19,511. And Dad had never been sued, never been accused of any malpractice. The next time you wonder why physicians charge so much for their services, remember that their insurance premiums can exceed poverty-line salaries.
Since Dad owned his own practice and paid employees, he had to fill out taxes as a business owner. One of the tax forms for the City of Bethlehem (Pennsylvania) is titled "Occupational Privilege Tax." Privilege? Huh. I did not realize working was a privilege. Of course, I never have been pressed to place work in an ontological category. Necessity? Right? Privilege? Does this mean that one does not have the right to work in Bethlehem?
Do we have the right to work anywhere?
"Life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness." Is working an unalienable right?
~ emrys
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1Sa 8:11-20 He said, "This will be the procedure of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and place them for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen and they will run before his chariots. (12) "He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. (13) "He will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers. (14) "He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his servants. (15) "He will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants. (16) "He will also take your male servants and your female servants and your best young men and your donkeys and use them for his work. (17) "He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his servants. (18) "Then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day." (19) Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, "No, but there shall be a king over us, (20) that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles."
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