It’d be easy for me to write something about how I sympathize with the union worker’s plight. I could write about how, having grown up in California, these issues are near and relevant to me.

I’m unable to do that, though.

My house was one of the houses the cleaning ladies would clean. My Mom, who was (and probably still is) constantly filling her schedule with commitments, felt unnerved by how she was unable to clean the house once every week. She hired some cleaning ladies, who happened to be Mexican. She paid them well, and often gave them bonuses. But to me, they weren’t under me, and they weren’t over me. They were just people doing their jobs, and they were damn good at it, too.

My neighborhood mostly consisted of middle class Asians– Chinese and Indians comprised the vast majority. I would often hear little snippets of Mandarin disparaging the Mexican immigrants, claiming that they have it easy with Social Security. I heard of a Mexican family who was evicted after not paying rent for half a year. Once the house was reclaimed by the worried landlords, they had to spend more money than they gained cleaning and repairing furniture in order to make it sell-able.

Why did I say all this? I said all that to let you know that I’ve lived an entitled life surrounded by people who subtly encouraged my feelings of entitlement.

However, while I can’t relate to the union worker’s plight, I can relate to humanity.

Humanity is something most everyone has, and most everyone holds dear. A concept of Good or Bad might be influenced by upbringing or society, but love and hate, tears and laughter, these are all universally relatable things, human things. This is why the film made me think about why I’m entitled, and why I should worry about the unions and the people in those unions, even though I might never be on the receiving end. They risk and sacrifice everything for what they feel is right, like Robin Hood and his band of merry men.

Though it sounds cliche to say it, this film opened my eyes to the struggle of these people. And, though the film may have taken place a long time ago, the sermon it preaches remain painfully relevant.