For Love or Money?

At my job, I’m the type of worker who likes to stay on the peripheral of most conversations, especially when they involve subjects that can be controversial. So, many times I will hang around, listening and nodding, when discussions such as these are taking place, but I rarely delve into them. It’s not that I don’t have opinions, I just don’t want our workplace to devolve into a pointing-and-yelling-and-name-calling Fox News-style “debate.”

Yesterday I was sitting at my cube, minding my own business, when three of my closer co-workers got into an animated discussion involving health care and the plan that has been proposed by the current administration. Two of the men (W and S) took the position against the plan while the third (C) was in favor of it. It went something like this:

C: Something needs to be done. The current system is failing millions of people.

S: But we really don’t need Obama’s Marxist plan. He’s a Socialist.

W: Yeah, Socialism is bad.

C: But, it’s not Socialism. It’s…

S: Look, he’s a Socialist and that’s all there is to it. He’s going to make you use his plan and you’ll have to wait months before you go to the doctor like they do in Canada and then the government is going to kill you when you get old. Is that what you want?

Needless to say, I find it pointless to engage people like this, so I kept to myself, listening to the same talking points repeated over and over. That is, I kept to myself until this point was brought out:

S: And, if they do pass this plan, who would want to be a doctor if they can’t make as much money as they do now? Nobody is going to choose to be a doctor if they can’t make a lot of money.

So, finally I broke my silence.

Matt: Really, you think that doctors only do their job for the money? You don’t think they could possibly have some desire to help others, to make a difference, that is greater than their paycheck?

S: Yeah, I’m sure that they like to help people, but if they aren’t getting paid for it what’s the point?

Matt: Do you not think that most people would choose to do the right thing because it is right, rather than for what they will get out of it?

S: I know I wouldn’t. Why would I go to school for all of those years if I can’t get rich?

Matt: That’s a business major for you.

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