One of the lucky ones

As I hear about Citizens United and how "corporations are people too," court challenges to the Affordable Care Act, the power of money in US politics and the continuing erosion of civil liberties in the face of the War on Terror,  I have two persistent thoughts:

1.  These are all signs of the end, the inevitable march towards the fall of the US empire, a ruling class so high on its own power that it crushes the people as it steamrolls towards its own demise.

2. It doesn't matter. None of it matters. The sin is great; I am powerless to stop it. My role is not to tie myself into knots bemoaning it or trying to change it in some systemic way, but to clean up its mess and care for the people who become its refuse, its "collateral damage".  And, when possible, to create in my students the habits of skepticism and empathy.

I realize I am only able to have these thoughts because I am one of the lucky ones, a "winner" in our economy.  How is it possible that a public school teacher is in the top quartile of earners in the US?

I'll tell you how: because "we the people" in the US are poor, and struggling.  And I am one of the lucky ones.