Letters to the Editor
pewella
Published Letters: 81 Editor's Choice: 15
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Circumcision is a rougher procedure than you would think
[Read the article: The unkindest cut]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When our son was born, nearly four years ago, my husband and I decided that we would circumcise him, for a whole range of reasons, but mostly because I know a few people who had to be circumsised as adults, and thought it would be best to do the procedure as a preventitive measure.
Dumb idea.
My son was less than 24 hours old when the procedure was done. The birth had been rough, on me at least, and we were all adjusting to the new routine and lack of sleep. When the doctor came into the room to say it was time to take Jack to the procedure room/torture chamber, I told my husband "You want this, you go with him". Ten minutes later the nurse announces "Daddy delivery!" and wheels in my ashen-faced husband on a stretcher. Apparently the sight of our son, our precious, new, dependent infant son, strapped to a board, with his knees splayed apart, and his tiny little penis bleeding from having part of his body sliced off, well, this was too much for my husband and he passed out. He said that image was so horrible that he was slammed with an instant forceful regret that took his breath away.
Now granted, my husband is a wuss who faints at the sight of blood (that he remained standing during both births is a testament to his inner hero). However, my point is, when we read up about the procedure, we thought it minor. But when he watched it performed, we were struck by the fact that we caused him unnecessary pain at a time when all of his experiences should be warm and comfortable. Mind you, Jack was asleeep within five minutes of the procedure and it didn't SEEM to cause him pain, but WTF do I know? Maybe he was asleep because he passed out from pain. Who knows what infants really feel? I'm not lecturing to parents who opt for circumcision, especially those who do it for religious reasons, but I'm just saying that we were once proponents, but that the procedure ended up being our first of many regrets in our short experience of parenthood.
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Perspective
[Read the article: The minimum wage went up, so the owner cut my hours!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I worked at a fast food restaurant as a teenager, and I learned almost as much during my three years there as I have throughout my academic career. The nature of the work sucked, even though management and the owners were great.
This is what I learned:
1. It's hard work to stand around on your feet all day. What this did for me is to see how hard "menial" work is, and to adopt a belief system that every worker deserves a living wage. A worker should be compensated extra for the bodily toll such work takes on him or her. Minimum wage is not a living wage.
2. You have to work almost an entire shift to pay for a shirt, or a night out. I never blow money now, even though I earn approximately 15-20 times minimum wage, having experienced how hard it can be to earn it.
3. You don't want to work minimum wage as an adult if you have kids. When I was a teenager, I knew that pregnancy had to be avoided at all costs until I was financially independent. I saw how the other women in the restaurant had to live and I was not envious.
4. Most of the time the public is fine, but the odd jerk can ruin your day. I am never rude to anyone in customer service ever because of my time working at that restaurant. Even when I'm really annoyed by a corporation, I look at the customer service representative as a former comrade, or another person paid a paltry sum to have take abuse all day.
So sure Cary, maybe it's more 'virtuous' to work in a bookstore, and yes, a book can change a person's life, but the LW's life is just fine. He's privileged by virture of having made it to college at all. He'll never be stuck working at a fast food restaurant when he's 40 unless he messes up big time. There is virtue to these McCrappy jobs, and that is that it takes kids who would otherwise only ever hang out with their own socio-economic bracket and makes them see how most of the world has to live.