Here's a question we should all be asking: What went wrong? Not just with the pandemic but with our civic life. What brought us to this polarized, rancorous political moment?
Kuna swali tunafaa kujiuliza: Kipi hakikwenda sawa? Si tu kuhusiana na janga lakini na uraia wetu. Nini kilichotuletea huu mgawano na chuki kisiasa ?
In recent decades, the divide between winners and losers has been deepening, poisoning our politics, setting us apart. This divide is partly about inequality. But it's also about the attitudes toward winning and losing that have come with it. Those who landed on top came to believe that their success was their own doing, a measure of their merit, and that those who lost out had no one to blame but themselves.
Kwa miongo ya karibu, utengano baina ya washindi na walioshindwa umezidi, na kutia sumu siasa yetu, kututenganisha. Mgawanyiko huu unahusu udhalimu kwa kiasi fulani. Lakini pia mtazamo kuhusu kushinda na kushindwa ambayo huja nayo. Walio kileleni wanaamini ufanisi wao ni juhudi yao, kipimo cha ustahili wao, na walioanguka hawana wa kulaumu bali nafsi zao.
This way of thinking about success arises from a seemingly attractive principle. If everyone has an equal chance, the winners deserve their winnings. This is the heart of the meritocratic ideal. In practice, of course, we fall far short. Not everybody has an equal chance to rise. Children born to poor families tend to stay poor when they grow up. Affluent parents are able to pass their advantages onto their kids. At Ivy League universities, for example, there are more students from the top one percent than from the entire bottom half of the country combined.
Mtazamo huu wa mafanikio unatokana na kanuni inayovutia, kwamba kila mtu ana nafasi sawa, na washindi wanstahili ushindi wao. Huu ndio kiini cha wazo la ustahi. Kwa vitendo,bila shaka, tuna upungufu. Si kila mtu ana nafasi sawa kuinuka. Watoto wazaliwao kwa jamii maskini hukua kwa umaskini, Wazazi tajiri wana uwezo kupitisha manufaa kwa wototo wao. Kwa mfano, katika vyuo bora zaidi, idadi wengi wametoka familia tajiri sana kushinda nusu ya chini ya nchi ukijumuishwa.
But the problem isn't only that we fail to live up to the meritocratic principles we proclaim. The ideal itself is flawed. It has a dark side. Meritocracy is corrosive of the common good. It leads to hubris among the winners and humiliation among those who lose out. It encourages the successful to inhale too deeply of their success, to forget the luck and good fortune that helped them on their way. And it leads them to look down on those less fortunate, less credentialed than themselves. This matters for politics. One of the most potent sources of the populous backlash is the sense among many working people that elites look down on them. It's a legitimate complaint.
Shida sio tu kushindwa kufikia mawazo ya ustahi tunavyopiga mbiu. Wazo lenyewe lina kasoro. Ina dosari. Ustahi una madhara kwa manufaa kwa watu wote. unaleta kiburi kwa washindi na kufedhehesha waliopeteza. huchochea washindi kujiona bora zaidi na kusahau nasibu na uenyemali iliyowasaidia kupata mafanikio. Na kupelekea kuonea wasiobahatika, na wasio na wasifi kama wao. Huu hujalisha kisiasa. Mojawapo ya chanzo kuu cha upinzani maarufu miongoni mwa wafanyikazi ni dhana ya wasomi kuwadharau. Ni lawama halali.
Even as globalization brought deepening inequality and stagnant wages, its proponents offered workers some bracing advice. "If you want to compete and win in the global economy, go to college." "What you earn depends on what you learn." "You can make it if you try." These elites miss the insult implicit in this advice. If you don't go to college, if you don't flourish in the new economy, your failure is your fault. That's the implication. It's no wonder many working people turned against meritocratic elites.
Ingawaje utandawazi umezidi kukosesha usawa na mshahara usioongezeka, watetezi wake walishauri wafanyikazi. "Kama unataka kushindana na kushinada karika uchumi wa kimataifa, enda chuo" "Mapato yako yanalingana na masomo yako" "Utafaulu ukijaribu" Hawa wasomi hawazingatii tusi fiche kwenye huu ushauri. Usipoenda chuo, usiponawiri kwenye huu uchumi mpya, basi shida ni lako. Huo ndio sababu. Si ajabu wafanyikzi wengi waligeukia ustahi wa wasomi.
So what should we do? We need to rethink three aspects of our civic life. The role of college, the dignity of work and the meaning of success.
Tunafaa tufanye nini ? Tunafaa kuwazia kipengee tatu cha uraia wetu. Nafasi ya chuo, usharifu wa kazi na maana ya ufanisi.
We should begin by rethinking the role of universities as arbiters of opportunity. For those of us who spend our days in the company of the credentialed, it's easy to forget a simple fact: Most people don't have a four-year college degree. In fact, nearly two-thirds of Americans don't. So it is folly to create an economy that makes a university diploma a necessary condition of dignified work and a decent life.
Tunafaa kuwazia tena nafasi ya vyuo kama suluhishi la fursa. Kwa watu kama sisi tunaotangamana na wasomi, ni rahisi kusahau hakika sahili: Watu wengi hawana sahada la miaka minee chuoni. Kwa hakika, thuluthi mbili Wamerikani hawana. Kwa hivyo ni upumbavu kujenga uchumi inayoshurutisha shahada ya chuo ili kuwepo na maisha sharifu.
Encouraging people to go to college is a good thing. Broadening access for those who can't afford it is even better. But this is not a solution to inequality. We should focus less on arming people for meritocratic combat, and focus more on making life better for people who lack a diploma but who make essential contributions to our society.
Kuhimiza watu kwenda chuo ni wazo mzuri. Upanuzi wa ufikavu kwa wasiojiweza ni bora zaidi Lakini huu si suluhu la kutokuwa na usawe. Haina faida kuandaa watu kupambania ustahi ni kuboresha maisha tunafaa kuzingatia kwa watu hawana diploma lakini wenye mchango muhimu katika jamii.
We should renew the dignity of work and place it at the center of our politics. We should remember that work is not only about making a living, it's also about contributing to the common good and winning recognition for doing so.
Tunafaa kufufua usharifu wa kazi. na kuiweka kati kwenye siasa zetu Tunafaa kukumbuaka kazi sio tu kupata riziki, ila pia ni kuchangia uzuri wa pamoja na kushindania utambuzi wakati huo
Robert F. Kennedy put it well half a century ago. Fellowship, community, shared patriotism. These essential values do not come from just buying and consuming goods together. They come from dignified employment, at decent pay. The kind of employment that enables us to say, "I helped to build this country. I am a participant in its great public ventures." This civic sentiment is largely missing from our public life today.
Robert F. Kennedy alisema vyema nusu karne iliyopita Ushirika,jumuiya, uzalendo shirika Malengo haya hayaji kwa ununuzi na ulaji wa bidhaa pamoja. Zinatokana na ajira adhama, kwa mshahara lifaalo. Ni aina ya ajira inatuwezesha kusema, "Nilichangia ujuenzi wa huu nchi. Mimi ni mshiriki wa ubia umma zake kubwa" Huu hisia wa uraia Haipo pakubwa katika maisha ya umma siku hizi
We often assume that the money people make is the measure of their contribution to the common good. But this is a mistake. Martin Luther King Jr. explained why. Reflecting on a strike by sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, shortly before he was assassinated, King said, "The person who picks up our garbage is, in the final analysis, as significant as the physician, for if he doesn't do his job, diseases are rampant. All labor has dignity."
Mara mingi tunadhania kipato cha watu ni kipimo cha mchango wao kwa mazuri kwa wote Huu ni kosa. Martin Luther King Jr alielezea mbona. Kwa kutafakari mgomo wa wasafishaji mazingira uko Memphis, Tennessee, muda mfupi kabla hajawawa, King alisema, "Mtu anyezoa takataka, kwa uchambuzi wa kina, ana umuhimu sawa na daktari, asipofanya kazi yake, magonjwa yanakithiri. Kazi zote zina usharifu"
Today's pandemic makes this clear. It reveals how deeply we rely on workers we often overlook. Delivery workers, maintenance workers, grocery store clerks, warehouse workers, truckers, nurse assistants, childcare workers, home health care providers. These are not the best-paid or most honored workers. But now, we see them as essential workers. This is a moment for a public debate about how to bring their pay and recognition into better alignment with the importance of their work.
Janga tunao leo unadhihirisha huu. Unaonyesha tunavyotegemea sana wafanykazi kunapuuza wakati mwingi. Wafanyikazi wa upelekaji, wafanyikazi wa matengenezo, karani wa duka, wafanyikazi wa bohari, madereva wa lori, wauguzi wasaidizi, watunza watoto, wahuduma wa afya nyumbani. Wafanyikazi hawa kipato ni duni na wanapuuziliwa. Lakini sasa, tunawaona muhimu. Huu ni fursa wa mjadala wa umma kuhusu kuinua mapato yao na kuwatambua kulingana na umuhimu wa kazi wanayofanya.
It is also time for a moral, even spiritual, turning, questioning our meritocratic hubris. Do I morally deserve the talents that enable me to flourish? Is it my doing that I live in a society that prizes the talents I happen to have? Or is that my good luck? Insisting that my success is my due makes it hard to see myself in other people's shoes. Appreciating the role of luck in life can prompt a certain humility. There but for the accident of birth, or the grace of God, or the mystery of fate, go I.
Ni wakati wa kubadili maadili, hata roho, kuulizia kiburi cha ustahi. Kimaadili,nastahiki talanta zinazoniwezesha kunawiri ? Ni uwezo wangu kua naishi katika jamii inayothamini talanta ninazo ? Ama ni bahati ? Kusisitiza ufanisi ni haki yangu huleta ugumu kujiweka kwa niaba ya watu wengine. Kuthamini nafasi ya baraka maishani yanaweza leta unyenyekevu flani. Kama si kwa ajali ya uzazi, ama neema ya mungu ama fimbo la hatima, ningekua nani.
This spirit of humility is the civic virtue we need now. It's the beginning of a way back from the harsh ethic of success that drives us apart. It points us beyond the tyranny of merit to a less rancorous, more generous public life.
Huu moyo wa unyenyekevu ndio fadhila ya uraia tunahitaji sasa. Ndio mwanzo wa kurudi toka maadili makali ya ufanisi unaotutenganisha. Inatuelekeza kupita ubabe wa ustahi hadi maisha ya ukarimu zaidi ya umma