Readers write: Amid Gaza war, preserving humanity

The human angle

Kudos on getting the humanitarian story in the article “With food and shelter scarce in Gaza, Palestinians turn to each other” from the Nov. 6 Weekly. It is so unfortunate that the majority of Palestinians who are suffering under Hamas are unable to get out from under those conditions. 

Though it is refreshing to hear that they are sharing among themselves (much like their Israeli counterparts), one has to ask whether they could root out Hamas from launching attacks from civilian areas. If they could achieve that, they could help end this nightmare.

Howard Tenenbaum
San Diego

Putting humanity first

The piece “On war in Gaza, an appeal: ‘Let’s preserve a space for humanity’” in the Nov. 1 Daily landed in my heart and made me teary. This is the perspective and potency that the Monitor brings to the world – understanding humanity first, as well as the value of life, comfort, compassion, and respect. From these values, wise decisions flow. 

For this reason, in my opinion, this article should have been the lead article and called out by the editor in the Daily (as an example of changes to come). It’s that significant. Then the second article, “Rashida Tlaib pushes for cease-fire in Gaza – and faces blowback” – which has outstanding scope – would have a balanced, respectful, responsible, and fair context. Great values right there as well. 

As long as the Monitor gives voice to the often muted and suppressed honest thinkers, I have hope. Thank you.

Chris Raymond
New London, New Hampshire

Why do we still tip? 

It has been evident for a long time that tips as a supplement to wages are a vestige of class distinctions. It was interesting, but in no way surprising, to read of their roots in racism in the story “Why ‘out of control’ tipping persists – for now” from the Sept. 20 Daily. 

“The Pullman Co. encouraged tipping to offset low wages,” the story reads. “In Pullman’s case those workers were porters, many of whom had been previously enslaved.”

Fresh out of college, I very occasionally dined at a well-known seafood restaurant in Miami Beach, Florida. The servers were almost all white and male; at least by appearances, most were from the University of Miami – a private university with steep tuition costs. I dined more frequently at a chain restaurant serving breakfast all day. The servers there were almost all women, of diverse racial backgrounds, and truly “international.”

At the former restaurant, a 15% tip was often two, three, or even four times the cost of an entire meal at the latter restaurant. And yet, the women at the “pancake house” were working just as hard (and surely supporting their families on the meager wages and tips they received).

There are two more problems with tipping. One, because cash is often the preferred method to tip, it is usually up to the server to declare this income. It should surprise no one that many people choose to not do so, which means less revenue to the government; we all “pay” for this unfair system. Secondly, the employer does not contribute the Social Security, Medicare, and workers’ compensation portion on undeclared cash income. And the employee, if they omit it from their income declaration, is thus doubly deprived of the full benefit they would be entitled to if compensated with a living wage.

It’s past time for Congress to eliminate the two-tier wage law. Unfortunately, employers and employees would protest the loudest against this much-needed reform.

Rusty Wyrick
Ghivizzano, Italy