You Were A Hero In 2020, But Now... ?

Heroes Work Here, the sign proclaimed.

These workers are essential, we deemed.

We sent you into harm’s way.

To deliver our food,

to deliver our babies,

to deliver our goods,

to keep the supply chain open,

to provide life-saving care,

to look after our elderly,

to cook our meals,

to drive us here and there,

to do the tough work, facing death,

the risk of infection before the vaccines,

while the rest of us sat in our bubble,

content and grateful to work from home and remain safe.

We assuaged our guilt by calling you heroes,

with a fist bump or nod, a clapping fest at the designated time.

Four years in, and how have we repaid you?

With zero wage increases.

Record “inflation” masking corporate greed.

Rents increasing, cost of living record-setting.

More anxiety in simply ‘existing.’

For no logical reason — just because, greed.

Like a pizza-party, a casual Friday “bonus” supposed to make up for lack of what truly shows appreciation -

Proper payment — a raise,

we instead disrespected these workers, deemed essential,

with our pathetic ‘hero’ label —

one that rings oh-so-hollow,

a platitude, a second-rate thank you.

You must be so grateful you risked everything for us.

That you sacrificed, to be rewarded with a world

where it’s next to impossible to keep a roof over the head.

Thank you, hero.

Would you do it for us… again?

Thanks for reading words written by a real human for real humans. This poem was originally published on Medium.com.