“If you don't do your homework, you'll end up working at a Taco Bell cleaning the bathrooms.”

How long have parents been making these types of threats?

Maybe it's not cleaning the bathrooms. Maybe it's running the register at the grocery store or delivering pizza. Maybe it's flipping burgers or pumping gas.

For years now, people have been using these jobs — these honest, necessary jobs — as a mean to shame their kids because that's how society has judged them.

There's been a stigma associated with the sort of work that keeps the world running, the sort of work that doesn't require a college degree but takes just as much dedication and honor as any other.

Who's going to work now?

Who's keeping our economy running?

The delivery drivers.

The janitors.

The burger flippers.

The grocery store clerks.

The gas pumpers.

Along with our healthcare workers and emergency responders, these are the people who are there for us in the face of a crisis. They're keeping us fed. They're keeping us in toilet paper (if it can be wrested from the hands of the hoarders). They're keeping us clothed.

It's hard to see a silver lining in a crisis. But perhaps this is one: The people long looked down upon in society are being shown to be our quiet heroes.

They're necessary. They're essential. They're human beings who are every bit as valuable as the $400-an-hour lawyer and the ‘million dollars a movie' actor.

Right now, they're keeping us going.

When all of this is over, remember them. Remember how much you needed them. Chances are that's not going to change.