President Barrack Obama presented his plan to raise minimum wage at the beginning of his 1st campaign which rapidly turned big business against him due to the increased cost of labor. The sheer thought of 15 million workings getting paid more may present a few major problems such as lower funds to higher more employees and the possible need to raise other positions wages, but after reading CNN's article of 23 year old, Dejun Jackson I felt the push was desperately needed.
Dejun wakes up 5 days a week at 4:30 am to prepare for his 5:30 shift at chick-fil-a. He works until 1 pm then walks to his next job at Walgreens by 1:15. He then fights a battle against the clock until 9:30 when he finally gets to begin his journey home to his 5 year old son and 4 year old daughter asleep in their beds. The only real time he feels he gets to fulfill his fatherly duties is on the weekends resembling a split household. Once he crashes into his bed he soon hears the screech of his alarm clock faithfully at 4:30 to start the cycle again.
"Their mom is doing it all," he said. "I work to put food on the table. My money is needed, but so is my time, and all I want to be able to do is give them more time."
Out of the two days he manages to output 70 hours a week and makes 8.75 at Chik-fil-a and 10.22 at Walgreens, but still makes 50,000 a year. Now the amount may seem sufficient, but at what cost? Should a child loose their father just to provide for them? The struggle he endures for them has the possibility to make them feel like a burden to a man whom they must care dearly about, and there are other places in which the money goes. The children's daycare cost 150 a month and to create more time for his kids he is attending college to gain his bachelors, in hopes if getting a job that allows him to provide both financially and emotionally, but until then Jackson has no choice but to continue missing the little moments that make being a father so important. He says it's just something he had to do.
So once again, acknowledging the difficulties in raising minimum wage, I feel this is just the surface of the pain and suffering a family must endure just to keep food on the table, clothes on their backs, and maintain a family bond.
