The night shift -- an interesting culture of people who go to work when most Americans are going to sleep and come home in the hours between darkness and dawn. They spend their days in darkened bedrooms trying to sleep while the rest of the world is awake. These are the people who spend the nights protecting our streets, and patrolling our skies, maintaining and cleaning our office buildings and stores, re-stocking our grocery shelves, updating our computized records, staffing our emergency rooms, nursing our ill and doing all the million of other jobs which are done while the rest of the cities are in darkness.

I have worked the night shift on and off for the last twenty years whenever I was between jobs or needed extra income or as now, when I want my days so I can write. I have seen the culture of the night shift change in the last decade. Ten years ago the people who worked the night shift were people who for whatever reason, chose to work these hours. They preferred the nights to accommodate their individual or family needs. There was extra money to be made at night -- with a shift differential usually paid along with the hourly wage.

Now, the many who work the night shift are there, not because they prefer these hours, but for most of them, it is the best job they can find. Many have been laid off, sometimes several times in the last 10 years or have seen their professional middle class jobs shipped overseas. Some have been with companies that have closed or done significant downsizing because of current economic conditions. Some are recent college graduates who are unable to take their diplomas and find a good job. Others are working the night shift as a second job just to make ends meet and put food on the table for their families. These are the people who "trickle down economics" has not trickled down to -- the middle class -- the people who just want to work a good job with benefits, buy a home and send their children to college. These are people who just want to live the American Dream and have found that dream fading in the darkness of the night.

The wages have changed also. The average hourly wage for the night shift has remained the same in the last 10 years and many have dropped by an average of 12.5%. Most of these jobs no longer pay a shift differential and are either temporary or contract positions so they rarely have any benefits. The work expectations are very high and there is the pressure to perform and perform well as for every night shift worker there are hundreds of applicants waiting to take their place.

I admire and respect the people who work nights for it is a hard role to live in the reverse of everyone else. So, let's toast these special people who do these vital jobs that keep our lives safe and our economy running.

Let's honor the unique culture of the night shift.