I'm thankful that I'm going home now! Please read my Baker's wake up letter to America (a repost, but sadly still applicable)
Dear America,
Obviously, bakers tend to wake up earlier than everyone else. The rest of my tale is somewhat surprising. Please let me tell you what I've discovered in my bakery. Here is a baker's tale:
It's 4:00 am in Larkfield, and the vending racks are just being filled with newspapers. The first pot of coffee is brewing, and I'm mixing the muffins for our morning customers. Mondays are usually slow, so we won't need that many. I'm listening to the radio, while the danish slowly rotate in the oven.
The news is all too familiar: some executive is on trial for defrauding investors, gas prices are on the rise, the morgue in Baghdad is at capacity and an Iraqi is grieving over the loss of his brother.
Dear America,
Obviously, bakers tend to wake up earlier than everyone else. The rest of my tale is somewhat surprising. Please let me tell you what I've discovered in my bakery. Here is a baker's tale:
It's 4:00 am in Larkfield, and the vending racks are just being filled with newspapers. The first pot of coffee is brewing, and I'm mixing the muffins for our morning customers. Mondays are usually slow, so we won't need that many. I'm listening to the radio, while the danish slowly rotate in the oven.
The news is all too familiar: some executive is on trial for defrauding investors, gas prices are on the rise, the morgue in Baghdad is at capacity and an Iraqi is grieving over the loss of his brother. Only a few weeks ago the insurgency started targeting my own brothers, the bakers of Iraq that help keep their communities fed. My heart goes out to these people who I do not know, but share a common bond.
These men are targeted for attack for the very reason that I bought a bakery in the first place; bakers are the cornerstone of civilization. If not for bread and circuses, Roman citizens would have overthrown their government in centuries past. The Egyptians developed bread around the same time they began to construct their great monuments. In our own neighborhood, our community entrusts us with the ceremonial foods for the milestones in their lives: cakes for baby showers, birthdays, graduations, weddings, retirements, and to comfort grieving families upon death. Customers break our bread with those who are close to them. They visit us to celebrate their sons first day at school, and after little league games. Often, we are the first person they greet in the morning, when they buy a donut to start the day. We are blessed to have a good clientele, but it is rare to find anyone in a bakery who is in a bad mood. Our food is designed to comfort the soul, and everyone who visits is full of cheer with anticipation.
My revelry is interrupted by the oven. It is about 50 years old and shows its age by creaking and moaning as it turns. It was installed in a simpler time, when this bakery made all the bread in town. Now every supermarket is our competitor, and we focus on making cakes and cookies. Even Wal-Mart up the street sells donuts, danish, and bread. Though our product is fresher and better, they sell more. We just can't compete with their prices, because we pay our employees more, and make things from scratch.
I can barely hear the radio now, the oven is so loud. I form bread loaves as the announcer says something about another company offshoring jobs. My last job was in high-tech where I helped coordinate the transfer of my neighbors' jobs to Malaysia. I eventually resigned in disgust with management and myself. I tried to rally employees to protest the job losses. But everyone was fearful of reprisal. I had to file a charge with the labor board over my management's questionable actions, and it was over a year before it was settled in my favor.
Most corporations simply disregard the labor laws that protect our right to associate, because they know the penalties are minor and enforcement weak. And because of that they keep wages lower, and my former colleagues are forced to compete with people in India and China, even though our cost of living is much higher.
The croissants have proofed and are ready to put in the oven, which is loudly complaining. I've got to get it fixed, and that will just cost more money. But the croissants look great at least. I hired a young baker from the junior college, who makes them.
Croissants are good sellers, and our customers love them. Legend says that the bakers of Vienna invented them after thwarting an invasion by the Turks. The enemy was secretly undermining the city's defenses with tunnels. The bakers heard the noise in the early morning and alerted the city. Together the citizens successfully fought off the invaders before their city could be sacked and looted. The entrepreneurial bakers formed the croissant to resemble the crescent flag of the Turks, and sold them by the thousands to the grateful public.
I'm baking some pans of cookies now. Our cookies are starting to gain popularity, but we haven't hit our target market yet. We want to sell them to schools and other non-profit groups that need to raise money for books and charitable efforts. A lot of local groups that used to be supported by the United Way are now on their own for raising funds. We hope to give them a way to help themselves. We make a patriotic magnet too, that celebrates the infinite capacity of America to innovate, adapt, and persevere despite the natural disasters and groups that attack our way of life. Some people say that the attacks on us are a conspiracy, but these groups just happen to share common values and interests. They don't share our belief in individual liberties. This small minority cannot stand others having different opinions and challenging their beliefs and use fear and threats to terrorize us. We know they can't possibly attack all of us, but their tactics are effective none-the-less. No one wants to become a target.
My brother-in-law has just arrived to open up. He is 50 years old now, with a degree in Economics. The most important lesson he learned is that when you are laid off at age 45, no one wants to hire you. He was able to find occasional work as a substitute teacher and did odd jobs until we took over the bakery. Now we are both employed, though not making as much as we used to earn.
A few people are waiting when he opens the doors. It looks like it will be a nice day as the sky begins to brighten.
I can't wait to shut off the oven, it's making such a racket! My assistant and I are debating religion and the evils caused by both Islamic and Christian radicals. We conclude that we like the overall theory and morality of not killing each other, but think that in practice Christians and Muslims seem too quick to justify killing that meets their ends. We believe in something greater than ourselves and have faith in mankind, but can't see ourselves belonging to a church. Too few Christians really pay heed to Christ's message of tolerance: treating others as you would yourself, and turning the other cheek. How can our Christian Leaders treat other sovereign nations with disdain and justify killing simply to promote their beliefs and protect our interests? It all seems hypocritical.
The cookies are almost done, and the radio says that there is a shareholder initiative to limit executive pay. The oven makes it hard to hear, but the CEO is making a record salary even as the company loses money. I don't understand how these executives can justify such high salaries to their boards. Most of the directors are executives from other corporations, so they know that one person is not critical to the success of a company. For the majority of companies, employees are their most important resource. I would rather have a thousand employees get a cost of living adjustment so they can afford the luxury of an espresso with their donut. Sometimes I wonder if there is something else a foot.
The President has declared war on Terror, and some commentators claim there is a war on the middle class. But the enemy seems to be an intangible ideology. The terrorists are not a government, and they aren't a single entity. They use the Internet to communicate best practices and tactics, but they are separate and distinct organizations with a multitude of leaders. Of course, their common tactic is to use fear and threats to coerce people and governments to stay out of the fight for democracy. I wish we could simply get along, but they are fundamentally opposed to having diversity of opinion. They truly believe that they know best, and do not want to let anyone else have a say in how things are run. Their power is threatened when others question the long-term value of offshoring jobs to boost profits, and the damage it does to our nations competitive ability. Those of us who show loyalty to our country are immediately targeted for retaliation and often are simply terminated. Rather than allow us the right to free choice, they terrorize us into silence.
The cookies are done, and the oven now sounds like a jackhammer. I finally shut it off, and instead of relief from the noise I realize that is coming from directly underfoot! The enemies of America and our inalienable rights are undermining our constitutional defenses at this very moment! Somehow I have to wake up everyone, before it is too late!
Help support the bipartisan Employee Free Choice Act that is blocked in Congress by a few extremists. The EFCA restores the balance of powers between employees and management that for decades allowed America to have the greatest economy in the world with a strong middle class and equitable wages for both executives and workers. Individuals in America are our only hope to reform government and corporations. Ask your congressman to demand a fair up and down vote on the EFCA, so we can know where our leaders stand. If you can't do this, please try a "liberty cookie" and stop by for a cup of coffee to help yourself awaken. We donate a portion of our profits to non-partisan groups that educate and inform our citizens. But we need your patronage and support. Most of all we need your faith in America to vote for leaders that represent our values.
Thank you and enjoy the day!
John Rose, CEO
Liberty Cookies, Inc.
www.libertycookies.com