My parents were Federal Employees
I am glad that they didn't live to see this administration destroy their legacy.
For those of you who have read my blog for a while know that I was raised in a middle-class neighborhood outside of DC where most of the parents were either government employees, military, or government contractors. Many of us never saw the inside of our parents' offices nor did we have a clear idea of what they did when they went to work everyday. We didn’t really care as long as they came home to us.
As I grew up I gained awareness of the impacts my mom, and even my dad who died when I was an infant, had on the world.
My father died in 1969. At the time of his death he was the host of “The Breakfast Show” at the Voice of America. When he died, my mother received letters from around the world from people who listened to his show regularly and appreciated his smooth delivery and interviews of important people of the time. (I am working on recording these letters for posterity.) Now the current adminstration is seeking to kill the Voice of America completely and a search for my father is no where to be found.
My mother worked for the Department of Labor for over 30 years and constantly encouraged her children to go into government work for the stability it provided. I am so glad she too missed out on this horrible treatment of government employees. This woman worked through the civil rights era, helped ensure equity in hiring was consistently delivered, and helped complete the final edits on major labor legislation in her time. While she may have considered herself a useful cog in the wheel, her writing helped ensure clarity in law and practice.
Now we have an administration working to tear down, not fix, our federal government. I am left with a broken heart for all the work my parents did that provided me and my brothers the opportunities we have in this life.