I’m Paula, a widowed cleaner doing everything I can to raise my 12-year-old son, Adam. One day, he came home crying after attending a birthday party hosted by Simon, the son of my wealthy boss, Mr. Clinton. Adam had been so excited to go, even choosing a thrift store shirt to wear. But when I picked him up, he was crushed. He tearfully told me how the other kids mocked him for being “a cleaner’s son.” They gave him a mop,

made him wear a janitor’s vest in a cruel party game, and served him cake on a plastic plate—laughing that “poor kids don’t need forks.” Furious, I confronted Mr. Clinton. Instead of apologizing,

he fired me. I thought I’d lost everything—until the next day, when I got a call: my coworkers had heard about what happened and went on strike until I was reinstated. They refused to work unless justice was served. When I returned to the office, Mr. Clinton publicly apologized. He admitted,

his failure as both a boss and a father. I accepted the apology—not for him, but for the lesson he finally learned. Because dignity isn’t tied to a paycheck. And my son now knows he has a mother who will fight for him, no matter how powerful the people on the other side are.