May 29, 2003

Priorities

I entered my time into our system at work today, which adds up the amount of time you are working on different projects and sees where you are billing your hours. I printed out a report and was a little shocked to see a small field at the bottom that reported the amount of money that could have been invoiced if all my time had been billable to clients. This amount - little of which I see, little of which my boss or his boss will see directly - is from working little over a month. This amount is more than my wife will make in a year working at her job, which can most easily be described as helping people who are victimized, dying, or in pain. My job can most easily be described as typing and making common-sense decisions. My reaction to seeing this amount is more similar to sadness than any other emotion, sadness and a little shame - not just at being overvalued - but of living in and supporting a world with priorities that cause this sort of unequality.

May 29, 2003 09:25 PM