let them eat...caviar.

This might seem like a stretch, but I am thinking that the Brazilian Mafia and Lilly Ledbetter (well, technically Goodyear, the company she worked for) have something in common. I'm no Mother Theresa, but truly there are very few people in my life that I don't like. I may stand on my soap box about things people do that annoy, frustrate or downright piss me off, but I've also been known to find something I can learn from in just about anyone. But (a big "but" here)...if you mess with my livelihood, you are on The List, possibly for life.

A person's ability to provide for themselves and their families is a core issue and value for me, passed down from...you guessed it, my beloved mother. Both from a work ethic standpoint, as well as the right, when showing a hard work ethic, to reap the benefit of that hard work. Don't mess with a hard working, diligent, purposeful person who is doing what they can and need to to provide for themselves and those they love. Period.

Stop shaking your head. I know.

This value has almost no real-life application. People are always messing with our ability to provide for ourselves. Someone's always jonesing for your job, even if indirectly. Greed, economics, skill development, technology, group dynamics, the "bottom line"...there are many, many things working against us. Some stories, however, go way, way beyond all of that.

I was sitting with an old friend and his dad last night. We were telling fun old stories involving mutual friends and experiences, when my friend's dad drew me into this incredible story about how the Brazilian Mafia took his father down. Big money, agriculture, alcohol and international trade. Mind-bending details like volleyball-sized bowls of smuggled caviar, Rolex watches, private jets, getting waved through at international checkpoints due to the influence with/from the highest levels of government and commerce. Much of that actually came after the Brazilian Mafia incident, but it best illustrates the blood in the water. My friend's grandfather was encouraged to accept an offer to sell his distributorship. He responded to this encouragement by climbing over the desk and grabbing the Brazilian by the throat. I suspect this didn't go over very well with the guys down south. He endured movie-script-worthy retaliation and bugged his own office á la Watergate with, what I imagine in my head, a bright red button under the lip of his desk to initiate a recording device. It didn't matter. They eventually won. There were rumors of untimely deaths and he, while not losing his life, lost his livelihood. His son (my friend's father) still ended up in the same industry and he, my friend and his brother would many, many years later be sitting at a table eating Russian caviar like it was salsa. Some small retribution I guess, but his father died having lost his life's work.

Lilly Ledbetter, according to an interview with her on NPR today, had her finest moment one year ago on Jan 29, 2009 when Obama signed the Fair Pay Act. Interestingly, this was his first real piece of legislation as President. For Lilly, that moment was roughly 30 years after she received her first paycheck as a supervisor in an Alabama tire factory. A paycheck that was considerably lower than her male counterparts. She did not know that she was being paid less until almost 20 years later. Her lower pay rate affected all of her compensation: retirement benefits, which are based on a percentage of pay, over-time pay and stock. She had a classic middle-class job and was short-changed significantly year after year. It affected the level of education she could afford for her children, health care, housing and food - her livelihood. She officially complained and suffered egregious retribution. She sued and she won. A jury awarded her $3.3 million dollars, which was immediately cut down to $300,000 due to a law that capped damages. Then the Supreme Court overturned it altogether saying she was entitled to ZERO because she filed the lawsuit more than 180 days after receiving the first discriminatory paycheck. The bill signed in January of 2009 essentially means you can sue up to 180 days after receipt of any discriminatory paycheck. Some small retribution, maybe even bigger than small, but Lilly, at age 71, lives paycheck to paycheck. Maybe her caviar is the Fair Pay Act, but I say...let's hope she gets a book deal.

http://www.makelillyright.com/Make_Lilly_Right/Make_Lilly_Right.html