Stuck in the Middle With You

Last week Statistics Canada released new income information and the lead news story from that 2006 Census report was that the rich in Canada are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer and the middle class is stagnant.  Kind of an icky word to describe most of us but then again it could be worse, we could have been losing ground.  The thing of it is, the middle class is a pretty big group.  It encompasses all kinds of people, so many in fact that over the years people have tried to break that group up into smaller bites.  The lower middle class, the upper middle class and the, well, I guess the middle middle class?  I, like the majority of Canadians, have lived my life somewhere in that vast wasteland known as the middle class.  The problem I had with last week's news reporting was the way so many media outlets made it sound like a bad and unfortunate state.  The funny thing is, most of the people reporting the story, also part of the middle class.  Labels are always a bit funky to work with because everyone's situation is different but, in the end, I'm really happy being part of that group.  Whether my income has been stagnant or not, it hasn't really affected me adversely.  The thing about the rich is, most of them work really hard at being rich.  It takes effort and a desire to want to constantly bring in wealth that I just don't have.  If they want to wine and dine and work the crowd and spend their time trying to figure out how to get even richer, that's their thing.  I have a modest house and live a modest lifestyle and I'm quite happy with the whole thing.  I really don't need a gigantic home with entire wings that no one even uses.  I don't need five and a half baths since I only use one.  The only problem I have with being part of the middle class is the way some people see it as a failure or a negative thing.  Some of us, believe it or not, are not driven by money or the need to have all the toys.  The fact of the matter is, this supposed "stagnant middle class" has more than they know what to do with.  The middle class in Canada has all the food they need, they have nice homes, cars to drive and more gadgets than you can shake a stick at.  This "stagnant" middle class is living a very comfortable life especially when compared to the one class that needs our help.  It's like Canada is an episode of The Brady Bunch.  The majority of us are Jan, stuck in the middle and all everyone talks about is Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.  The rich have this, the rich have that, the rich are getting richer.  Meanwhile no one is talking about poor Cindy.  She has nothing.  She doesn't have enough to eat, she can't find work that pays a decent wage, she lives in crime filled neighborhoods and needs our help.  The poor getting poorer according to the 2006 census is the real story.  That is the headline everyone needs to pay attention to.  Poverty leads to more crime and children who don't have enough to eat and that affects their ability to get a good education and break the cycle.  In a nation as rich and decent as Canada there should be no child that goes to be hungry.  Is the rich getting richer part of the problem?  Maybe it is, maybe they need to stop being so damn greedy and throw a little back to the poor in this country but in the end, no one should be worrying about the middle class.  There's a great line in the song "Lucky Man" by country band Montgomery Gentry.  The line goes "I look around at what everyone has and forget about all I've got".  That to me, sums up the problem with some in the middle class.  Forgetting about how fortunate we are because we're so damn busy looking at what the rich have we don't think enough about the people in our very community that need our help because they have nothing.  I'm proud to be a member of the middle class and I will be happy always being a member of that group.  What makes me ashamed is that we don't do more to force governments to help the poor, join our ranks. Until We Type Again, Take It Ease !!