Essential Workers
Are Essential and Important the same? A story for children ages 6-9
“I made cocoa,” said Mom, “since we get to stay home today.”
“I love storms! Hooray hurricane!” Noah rested his elbows on the windowsill. He stared as the scrawny tree at the curb did a crazy dance in the fierce wind. Noah frowned as Mrs. Kalu from next door dashed to the bus shelter. He gasped as her umbrella turned inside-out and her hat flew away. “Mom, why is Mrs. Kalu going out but you can stay home?”
“School is closed because of the storm, so teachers are home just like kids. But Mrs. Kalu is an essential worker. She has to work even in bad weather.”
“A what kind of worker?”
“Essential. That means that her work is important even in terrible weather or dangerous times. Who else has to work?”
Noah thought. “Mrs. Kalu is a nurse, so I guess doctors. They also help sick people.”
“Right,” said Mom. “Who else?”
Noah peered through the rain-streaked window. “Boris’s mom is running to the bus shelter too. She cleans the hospital. Cleaners must be essential.”
Photo by Emilio Garcia, unsplash
Mom nodded. “Who else?”
“Bus drivers,” said Noah as Mrs. Kalu and Boris’s mom got on the bus. “And tow-truck drivers,” he added, pointing as one rushed by.
Lightning flashed and thunder roared so loudly the windows shook. A siren wailed as a police car with flashing blue lights sped down the street. “Emergency people like police and firemen. And the people who drive ambulances,” he said.
“Right! Now let’s see what’s happening with this hurricane.” Mom turned on the TV. On the screen, the weatherman pointed at a map of the United States.
“The weather people are working,” said Noah. “So they must be essential too.”
“Right. People need to know what’s happening, so the meteorologists and news reporters have to work.” Mom sipped her cocoa. “Also TV people we can’t see: film editors and cameramen like Uncle Dan.”
Suddenly the TV and all the lights went off. “Uh-oh,” said Noah. “Power’s out.”
“I hope we don’t have to wait until after the storm for someone to fix the power,” said Mom as she opened the curtains wide to let in more daylight.
“People who fix things are also essential workers, right?”
“Hmm.” Mom rubbed her lip with her finger. “Yes, electrical workers and plumbers like Grandad.”
Noah wrinkled his nose as he remembered the broken toilet. “Especially plumbers,” he said.
“Right. Now, let’s read your new library book.” Mom led Noah to the sofa. She read its title. “Ten people who changed the worlds of art and science. Let’s see who these people were and how they changed the world.”
She looked at the list: Picasso, Pavlova, DaVinci, Newton, Gutenberg, Edison, Curie, Salk, Carver, Einstein. “We’ll hear about two artists, two scientists from long ago, two inventors, two medical researchers, and two more modern scientists,” she said.
“Were they essential workers too?” asked Noah.
Mom tipped her head and thought. “No, I don’t think so. They were important, but in bad weather and other dangerous times they probably stayed home, or in their offices, studios, or laboratories. Most of the time they were busy, but no one was helped by what they did on any one day.
“Their very big things took lots and lots of time to learn, discover, or prepare. Nothing changed the day they told or showed their work for the first time. All the things done by the people in this book became important slowly, as others learned about them. What they brought to the world was so important that today, lots of people know their names.
“Essential workers do smaller things, and their work helps individuals and families every day. What they do is important, but not many people know their names. Being important and being essential aren’t the same.”
Noah thought about Mrs. Kalu and Boris’s mother, Grandad and Uncle Daniel. They were all ordinary, every-day people. But the work they did was essential.
“So important people do things that will matter to lots of people, but not right away, and they get to be famous. Essential workers do stuff that can’t wait. Their work helps people right now, but they are not famous. That doesn’t seem fair.” Just as Noah finished, the lights went back on.
“Thank you, electricians!” said Mom with a laugh. “I think that’s it, Noah. I think you explained it.”
Noah shook his head. “It still doesn’t seem fair. The essential workers are really the heroes.”
Mom pulled him down to the sofa and put her arm around him. “Maybe other people will start to see how important they are. Meanwhile, let’s read about these ten people. She put her arm around him, opened the book, and began to read.
For Parents, Teachers, and Others
I originally wrote this story for preschoolers during the Covid 19 crisis. I think the concept is much more important now, so I rewrote it for primary grade children.
Recent events have brought to light the fact that American higher education has decayed almost beyond recognition. Many parents are wondering if they should even encourage their children to attend college.
If higher education is rotten, then children need to be inoculated against society’s stupid dichotomy between “white collar=winner, blue collar=loser.” They need to be able to evaluate possible careers dispassionately and choose something that will lead them to a good life without indoctrination and lessons in group-think.
Although society says that white-collar work—research, management, etc. etc.—is more important than plumbing, electrical work, and shopkeeping, we learned from the Covid 19 crisis that we could do without many of those office workers, but not without the supermarket managers, plumbers, and nurses.
This is not a new idea for me
I was raised in a home with two intellectual, highly educated, highly idealistic parents, neither of whom had much common sense. I still remember the moment when I learned the word that defined the major difference between us. In the college library I was browsing a journal article that kept using the words “pragmatic” and “pragmatist.” I looked the words up in the dictionary and thought, “Aha! That’s what I am, a pragmatist. That is why I so often knock heads with my family.”
My naturally practical outlook led me to write for the Vo-Tech section of Career World, a magazine that was primarily used in high school libraries and counseling offices. In researching for those articles I communicated with hundreds of people in low-status jobs who were very intelligent and articulate, some of whom even had Ph.Ds. I learned how difficult their jobs were, and how important. I heard some amazing stories of how their work turned around potentially deadly situations.
I hope that this little story, which points up the difference between “essential” and “important,” helps children and parents understand the value of the work that makes the world go round. Hopefully, over time the social status of jobs will be changed, with tow truck drivers and electricians being accorded the honor those truly critical jobs deserve.
The ten important people in Noah’s library book
The book I named in the story does not exist, but if it did, it would tell about these people and explain why they are important.
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), artist. One of his paintings, Guernica, is a graphic depiction of the ravages of war.[i]
Anna Pavlova (1881-1931), ballerina. Besides being a world-famous dancer, she improved the ballet toe shoe, making it safer for dancers.[ii]
Leonardo DaVinci (1452-1519), brilliant thinker of the Renaissance era whose drawings showed inventions including bicycles treadle spinning wheels that could not be realized for many years until the technology caught up with his ideas. Besides being a genius inventor, he was also a great painter.[iii]
Isaac Newton (1642-1727), physicist and mathematician. Much of modern science is based on his understanding of phenomena like gravity and colors. [iv]
Johannes Gutenberg (14th cent.-1468), inventor of moveable type. Revolutionized the world of printing and opening up literacy to the masses.[v]
Thomas Edison (1847-1931), inventor especially in the field of electricity and electrical products.[vi]
Marie Curie (1867-1834), physicist who studied radioactivity. Her work led to x-rays and using radiation to treat tumors.[vii]
Jonas Salk (1914-1995), physician and medical researcher. Developed the first safe and effective vaccine for polio.[viii]
George Washington Carver (1861?-1943), American agricultural chemist. He developed new, important uses for several plants that grow well in the southern USA. Born into slavery but determined to get an education, he ended up one of the most important agricultural scientists of the 20th century.[ix]
Albert Einstein (1879-1955), developed the theory of relativity that changed the way scientists looked at the universe.[x]
[i] SBC, 17 People Who Have Changed The World As We Know It, https://www.summerboardingcourses.com/blogs/people-who-have-changed-the-world/, accessed January 4, 2024.
[ii] Ibid
[iii] As a former wool spinner, I learned of this connection many years ago. This article provides more information. https://artsandculture.google.com/story/leonardo-and-the-art-of-weaving-leonardo-da-vinci-museum/2wVxLwuL6F11KQ?hl=en, accessed January 4, 2024.
[iv] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Isaac-Newton, accessed January 4, 2024
[v] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johannes-Gutenberg, accessed January 4, 2024.
[vi] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Edison, accessed January 4, 2024
[vii] SBC, op.cit.
[viii] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jonas-Salk, accessed January 4, 2024
[ix] https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Washington-Carver, accessed January 4, 2024.
[x] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Albert-Einstein, accessed January 4, 2024.
Well done! I was waiting for Mom to tell Noah - to our God - we are each essential and important because He created us in His image. But, naturally you didn’t sway from the objective of the story. Well done!