For site coordinators that have done this before, there is the discussion of the dreaded 3rd week. Evidently, after three weeks on a site, constantly living and working together, the interns begin to get a little irritable. Well, luckily, that hasn't quite happened to our group...yet, but I think I may be gettin frustrated. I don't know if I am frustrated with their lack of motivation or frustrated with my own failure to motivate them. I feel like there is a certain amount of motivation needed to drive a person to be here, over all of the other internships or summer activities. And maybe, I was hoping on that motivation getting them through the 5 week internship. That was a mistake. I am realizing that inspiration does not equal motivation. Whether or not I inspire them to believe in the movement and the cause, is different than my motivating them to succeed or even excel.
I have given them a certain amount of autonomy this week, and am hoping that they rise to the occasion. I am not worried that they will fail; I know that won't happen. My worry is that they won't learn as much as I want them to or as much as they need to. This is ultimately a learning experience, and I want them to walk away with a true sense of what the labor movement is about. That it is tedious, and mind-numbing sometimes. That a lot of this job is about paperwork and building and cultivating relationships with people that aren't workers, but in the end it is always about the workers.
I love being here. I hate St. Louis, but I love being here. I love the notion that we are fighting the good fight. My dad likes to tell the story of talking to workers that walked out over a nickel raise. The part about that story that still gets me, is that ultimately they didn't strike over that nickel, they didn't care about the nickel. They only wanted their dignity.
When people ask why I am involved in the labor movement, or why I support unions...I ask them how they can NOT support unions? Why is it so hard to understand that people deserve a living wage, they deserve to be able to work a full-time job and be able to provide for themselves or a family if they so choose? I understand the system, and I understand that if you want to be rich there are opportunities (for some) out there. But there is no reason why, in the largest economy in the world, that people should not have a decent wage, medical coverage, and time to spend with their families. There are certain things that everyone is entitled to, just by being alive and a decent wage is the least we, as a society, can provide.

