Welcome to the Tweed Trends podcast. Hey, Evette, what's trending today? Hey, I'm Evette, hey girl, and you are tuned in to Tweed Trends. It's the quickest way to find out what's trending today.
Hello, and welcome back to Tweed Trends. Today is Workers' Memorial Day. Have you ever heard of this one before? If not, we're going to talk about it.
Let's get started. Back around 2003, the labor movement established Workers' Memorial Day to mourn workers killed on the job, as well as to renew the fight for the living. Now, this day was predominantly put in place to mourn those people who lost their lives at a job where maybe the owners of the business or the bosses or the managers, whoever, they weren't honoring best practices in the workplace. They were cutting corners to make that bottom line shine.
They were doing things that they know they shouldn't have been doing. In those situations, people see it coming. The problem is sometimes there's a backlash. If I'm working at a place and I see that they have us doing something this unsafe and that people could get hurt doing and I go and report it, then I very well could get some backlash from that because there aren't safeguards in place to protect people.
So for the people who have these jobs and they need this money, what do they do? They continue to do whatever the boss says for them to do so that they continue to get a paycheck, so they can continue to put food on their tables and keep a roof over their heads. And so this day is put in place just to kind of be a reminder, like, hey guys, you think that you're doing the right thing out there, but people are still dying on the job. They leave their house every day and some of them don't make it home that evening.
That's a problem. So this day is one, to lift up the names of those people who have lost their lives at work, but then two, it's to also get out there and speak up for the people who are stuck in those jobs that are like, hey, they need better working conditions. They need better equipment. They need safety equipment.
They need, they need, they need, they need, they need. And someone needs to need this need so that we can cut this number down. So already it's happened. COVID-19 snuck its little way into the conversation.
But you know what? I'm going to run with it today because even before then, before this whole COVID-19 debacle, a typical day in the United States saw 14 workers killed on the job. Now, this isn't 14 people that went to work and had a medical emergency and died of natural causes. These are 14 people that got killed due to the negligence of their workplace.
And that's 14 people too many. You know, people are like, oh, 14. You know, we've got a gazillion people in the United States. You know what?
But those 14 people deserve life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and the capabilities and ability to work in a place that is not dangerous and life-threatening. Now, there are some jobs that people go into that they know there's a risk. They know that there is a chance that they could hurt themselves and die. But you know, those are your stuntmen and things like that, in my opinion.
I know there's other jobs out there too. But you know, that's one thing. This isn't what we're talking about here. We're talking about industries where money is causing people, the owners, the managers, is causing them to choose money over man.
When the money that comes into your pocket becomes more than the people that are helping to make that money for you, that is a problem. And that's why this day was brought about. So we got to lift up the names of those people who died and didn't have to. But then for the people that are left behind, we've got to speak up for them in their rights and to get them the things that they need so that they can perform the jobs that they have to perform.
Now, speaking of that, that goes back to this COVID situation with the doctors and nurses and all the other essential workers in the hospitals and out and about. These people are putting their lives in danger every day that they have to go to work, especially those ones in the hospitals, because guess what? The sick people are coming to them. They need help to get better.
And so now these doctors and nurses and everybody, they are being exposed to this virus. And the sad thing is, even some of them are not coming home. And it's not that they're not coming home because they don't want to run the risk of infecting their families. They're not coming home because they're dying.
Yes, doctors and nurses and people have been dying because they've contracted the disease because they didn't have the proper materials and protection gear needed to keep them from getting the virus. And there's still so much unknown about it, like how it is for real, for real, transferred and transmitted from person to person. To me, it seems like it's a whole heck of a lot more airborne than what people are willing to say, which is why I am staying in my butt at home and I know I'm getting off track. Let me hop back into the seat and strap in and keep it in my, because there I was about to go off on a tangent.
But seriously, so a day like today is very important, very important, because we need to reach out to our lawmakers to be like, hey, we need to speak up. We need to make sure that OSHA has what it needs so that it can then go into these business places and make sure that they have proper practices in place, proper equipment in place and all that stuff. We need to get protection for the people that work in these establishments because if you go and say something, you very well could feel a little backlash from it. And then what?
I needed that money to keep the roof over my head and the food on the table. What do I do now? I guess I just sit here and be quiet and just pray every day that something doesn't happen to me and I don't die while I'm at work. Okay, so another side note here just to throw in here.
Today is also National Superhero Day. Now this day was started back in 1995 by the Marvel employees so that people can have a day to celebrate their favorite superheroes. But guess what's happening out there in these streets today? People are praising and raising the names of those healthcare workers and the other essential workers out there that are putting their lives in danger and saying, you know what?
They deserve superhero status and I have to agree with them. They do. Because they're doing more out there than what I'm doing. I'm here at the house.
I'm doing the whole teaching role. I'm not going to be able to get to the home school happening and as a matter of fact, home school is about to let in in a few minutes. So I'm going to have to get off of here. But you know, I do believe too that teachers, by the time this whole thing is all said and done, they will be raised to the level of superhero status as well because I bet you you didn't know your little sweet Johnny was the handful that he is until you had to try to teach his little behind at home.
I bet you didn't but I bet you know now and you'll treat that teacher better. When his teacher appreciation week, you'll do more for them. You might even put a little something in your hand and be like here, you know, treat yourself to a good meal, a nice hot piping latte or something good because I see you. I feel you and I understand that this is not an easy job.
I know you signed up to do it but my child, I know my child now and I just got to honor you. And so, you know, there are a number of people, even the people that clean up at the janitorial staff at the hospitals and whatnot, they are coming in after everything's all said and done and cleaning up places that nine times I just said are infected. You know, so this whole national superhero day just goes right on in to the idea that the workers memorial day, it's, you know, marvel knew what they were doing when they picked today to be the same day as the workers memorial day. Okay, well that was today's episode of Tweet Trends.
I hope you enjoyed it. And before you head on off to do whatever you're going to do this week, make sure that you take the time to remember those people that have lost their lives in the line of duty at their jobs, as well as to remember the people who were left behind to still work in those poor conditions. Do what you can reach out to your congressmen, your representatives and let them know that more needs to be done. And so, the notion needs help and, you know, any other way that people in their line of business can be better taken care of.
We should do that as a society. We should really try to do that. And then on top of that, for those people that are out there busting their butts right about now, those doctors, nurses and all the other essential workers out there, those superheroes of today, let's show them that we appreciate them too. Maybe make a donation, drop off some donuts or something to their establishments and just let them know that you see them and you see the work that they're doing and that you appreciate it.
Okay? And one other thing, head on over to Twitter and follow me at HeVet, that's at H-E-V-E-T-E, or just look for the hashtag tweet trends. Alright guys, today's Tuesday, I'll see you back here on Thursday. Until then, have a good one.