On Christmas Eve 2010, my grandmother received a gift from a hospice nurse who was assisting in my grandfather's declining health. Initially surprised and embarrassed by the gesture, her emotions quickly changed once the wrapping was removed. A single package of Ramen Noodles has been revealed. Embarrassment turned to confusion as he tried to comprehend what he had received. The hospice worker drove a 1997 Plymouth Voyager that regularly complained of not being able to run properly for more than a week. She was wearing old, worn clothes, and my grandmother claims she had never seen that woman wear jewelry before. It was evident that she was not rich. Although she could not afford a gift, the nurse, in her benevolence, did not want to show up empty-handed on Christmas Eve. I recognized social inequality and couldn't help but feel something was wrong. This selfless nurse, who was sacrificing Christmas Eve to care for an elderly man she didn't know before, couldn't even afford to fix her car. Although she worked harder than anyone I had ever met, nearly 60 hours a week, she was the one who struggled to pay the bills. This is not the America of our ancestors. Over the past 100 years, America has been plagued by a seemingly benign transformation that has led us astray from our national values ​​and led us to ignore our individual sense of right and wrong. The United States was founded on the idea that if you are willing to work hard you should be able to get ahead. For some this means achieving financial stability, for others it means becoming financially better off than their parents, but it still means that working hard today should pay off in the future... middle of paper... see. 2013. .Why We Shouldn't Trust Markets With Our Civic Life. Director Michele Sandel. Perf. Michele Sandel. Ted speaks. Ted Talks, June 2013. Web. 14 November 2013. .Zhao, Emmeline. “The best education in the world: Finland and South Korea, ranking of the best countries, nominal average in the United States.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, November 27, 2012. Web. November 13, 2013. .Zhao, Emmeline. “Dropout rates for minority and poor students are disproportionately high.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, October 20, 2011. Web. November 13. 2013. .