Frustration With American Business Can Change Through Kind Acts

As I write this article I am sitting in my dorm room at Pepperdine University. I am weary because I have not been able to secure enough funding to pay the entire amount owed to the school for this semester or the subsequent two semesters of this school year. I think about the people who can help me. Parents. Aunts. Uncles. Friends of the family. Thus far they have all said no or declined to respond. I know that there are people who can help me but simply refuse to. I take comfort in the fact that my ambition and spiritual guidance will lead to a solution one day soon. I hope I am able to continue in school.

I contacted my creditors and scheduled payments beginning in late October and early November to prove to student loan personnel that I was trying to improve my credit score. My loan request was still rejected.

Some of the creditors I spoke with were congratulatory with praise that I had made it to the dissertation phase of my education. Others were aloof- trying to get money out of me after I repeatedly told them I don’t have the money and trying to tell me how to manage my finances. With a few I then started to ask them not to lecture me about budgeting as if I’m an infantile suckling. I barely spend. I’ve lived all over the United States earning college degrees. I may have fell on hard times. But I know about budgeting. I know that the decisions I make affect myself and others. I know that spiritual advisement has allowed me to gain foresight into the consequences of said actions. I knew that the road would not be easy. But I knew it had to be done. Without making these decisions I would not be writing this article. Without making sacrifices I would not be the person I am today.

Kindness and civility have been chipping away at the fabric of the American dream. American businesspeople often blame everyone but themselves when a customer is mistreated. Career diversity seminar panelists focus on categorizing Americans into boxes of race, class and gender. The American fabric is decimated as Americans solve problems in ways that soothe our conscience instead of thoroughly investigating how the people actually going through problems think the problems should be solved.

Donald Trump’s supporters, like me, feel that the wealthy elite have not been paying attention to the average American’s daily struggles and helped to provide comparable solutions. And while Trump’s messages soothe their fears his abusive rhetoric contributes to this seemingly American synergy of blaming-the-victim.

Why do Mr. Trump’s supporters refuse to outright reject his harsh rhetoric? We have allowed the blame-the-victim culture in our society. It’s so pervasive that it’s second nature.

Let’s bring back civility and decency to our American businesses. Maybe by doing that we can change society as a whole.

Image courtesy of photostock at FreeDigitalPhotos.net