In the United States, people are eligible for 12 weeks of unpaid parental leave, but paid leave is dependent on your state, and even then, it isn’t usually for very long. That’s why I strongly believe that people who are pregnant should be able to have paid leave for the majority of their pregnancy and however long it takes for them to become settled after they give birth, and people who just ate an Italian beef sandwich should have this right, too.
Pregnancy, and digesting one of Chicago’s most famous sandwiches, can be one of the most difficult, trying, but exciting times a person goes through. They are also some of the most miraculous and precious events on God’s green earth, and they should be treated as such.
Most people don’t have the luxury to be able to survive without income while also taking care of themselves, their new child, and any other children they might already have. They shouldn’t be punished simply for adding someone to their family, or for eating a sandwich with thin slices of roast beef and giardiniera on a French roll served au jus.
Carrying a baby and an Italian beef sandwich both take time, care, and patience, which is why people should be paid while their pregnancy develops, and/or while they digest so much beef in the middle of the day.
This issue also hits close to home for me, personally. I may have not been pregnant before, but I’ve eaten many Italian beef sandwiches during my lunch breaks at work, and I know how long it can take to return to normal after such a destabilizing event takes place. I mean, my own boss wanted me to go back to work even though I was literally carrying a huge weight inside my body. Somehow, he didn’t understand that I wasn’t able to work and still needed to support myself during this trying, but very special, time.
The United States has the least amount of paid parental leave in the entire world, which means that we have a serious unequal pay issue when it comes to new parents in the workplace. The data is inconclusive for the amount of paid leave for eating an Italian beef sandwich, but I believe that the U.S. has the ability to champion this movement. And they better do it fast, because my lunch break is in 15 minutes.
