I remember seeing this pyramid in sociology class and a few times in psychology class, but I became intimately acquainted with the pyramid when I worked at an Alternative Learning Center for troubled youth. Keeping Maslow’s Triangle as it is sometimes called in the forefront of our thinking helped us to deal with that person who physically appeared to be 23 years old but was acting like a 2-year-old. It also helped us to understand what that person needed more, knowledge of health, math, and science, or did they need to have some basic needs taken care of first. The school was phenomenally successful in breaking the school-to-prison pipeline while providing a basic high school education. But we became too well know and raked in too many honors and how could that be allowed to stand when the pristine schools in the system were falling behind and having to formulate an improvement plan. Now enter politics and the school was closed. You can tell that this comment is with a large amount of prejudice on my part, but I think that it is also quite accurate.
Well, enough pontificating on the past and fast forward to the present. The World of Work summarizes the pyramid as such.” Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a pyramid of the needs that motivate people. Individuals most basic needs, at the base of the pyramid, are physiological. Once they have fulfilled these needs, people move on to their safety needs, social well-being, self-esteem then ultimately their need for self-actualization.“
At the pinnacle we should have had our basic needs met and we are now helping the community make it to the top of the pyramid so that they can help the next generation of people climb to the top and so on. The last summary fits better into the sociological view of the pyramid.
I had envisioned that I would be helping young teachers become master teachers after I had experienced some of the minimum wage positions that my community college students were in. The first two phases of the outline went as planned, but then along came COPD. I was warned by my doctor that I needed to stay away from sick people. That directive eliminated the school system, because students come to class, at all levels of education, extremely sick. It also eliminated the minimum wage jobs because retail America expects you to be at work unless you are in your coffin.
Then how am I going to get to the top of the pyramid? Enter once again the COPD Foundation. I can do as much as humanly possible to help those with COPD to live a happy and full life. At this point I feel that I am at the bottom of the top of this pyramid and have gotten there by standing on the shoulders of some people who have given much and are very dear to me.
I hope that you read this and determine that you can also be at the top of the pyramid and pledge to help others on your way to the top. To those who are already at the top of this list I want to express my sincere gratitude.