I'm ashamed to be an American sometimes...

After reading "Nickel-and-Dimed" and "Pennies an Hour and No Way Up", I felt ashamed to call myself an American. I live in the richest c0untry in the world, I have everything and more, but somehow I feel ashamed to say so. It's not morally right to make anyone, black or white, indian or chinese, to work a low-wage job just because they are not doctors, lawyers, or at a higher competency in society. How can our government not take a stand against this rational? I was devasted and shocked to read in "Pennies an Hour..." that two billion people in the world make less than two American dollars a day. Some of these people are grown adults while I'm a young teen bagger at a Genuardi's grocery store making five or more dollars then they are. Moreover, I found it interesting that Barbara Ehrenreich chose to live the life of a low-wage worker in her story," Nickel-and-Dimed." Through her article, I could relate to a lot of the things she was talking about while she was a waitress. My first money-paying job was being a busser and a hostess at a small cafe and deli back home. I remember thinking to myself about how badly the waitresses would be treated, how little they were paid for working so hard, sweating in and out of the kitchens, and especially putting up with sexual harrassment from the cooks. I guess what amazed me the most was how beautiful of a people they were despite the working class they came from. Just because your a waitress or a hotel housekeeper does not mean your personality is poor or that someone else is better than you. However, I still wish like Enrenreich says, for these people to come to know what they're really worth and stand up for themselves, they deserve better, much better.