Left to my own devices

UK Prime Minister Liz Truss took office September 6th of this year, and to say it's been a bumpy ride would be an understatement. With the death of Queen Elizabeth II just two days after Truss took the reins, the new PM had a bit of breathing space to put things together for her new premiership, with most of the country (and the world) paying attention to the pomp and circumstance of what happens upon the death of a monarch who'd reigned for seventy years. Alas, that extra time didn't seem to matter much.

The most recent in a series of increasingly frequent government shutdowns lasted for over a month. Many government workers still showed up for their jobs, but did not receive paychecks. Other employees were furloughed. It was, to put it mildly, a mess. Some folks out there (who apparently lack even a smidgen of empathy within their soul) chided the workers who were vocal about the strain the lack of pay was having on their life, smugly invoking the virtues of saving for a rainy day. The gridlock in our nation's capitol seemed to reach everyone, even if it was just to offer an opinion. Something else that the government shutdown brought to the fore was a reality often not spoken of about why we have jobs in the first place. Obviously, many jobs exist because of necessity. We need people to fly our planes, to treat us when we're ill, to stock our grocery shelves, to manage our air traffic control, and a host of other things. But, for better or worse, we live in a monet...