It’s 1 a.m. and Thomas Wu is riding his bike on the empty streets of Shanghai. The 43-year-old insurance executive has had another meltdown.

Wu’s pay has been slashed by 20% in a nationwide push to lower salaries at state-owned finance companies. He frets about layoffs and wonders how he’ll find 600,000 yuan ($84,500) to keep his two children in international school — a hallmark of upper-middle-class life in China. His six-year-old is behind in math.

“What’s the point of driving our kids nuts studying so hard?” Wu said. “The top-tier graduates can’t find a job, those who come back from overseas can’t find a job.” Pay increases, he says, are no longer tied to effort. “My work is meaningless.”

Read it all.

China created a new class of highly paid white-collar worker. Now their dreams are being crushed. https://t.co/FtWSrjgm8J #TheBigTake

— Kristine Servando (@tinssoldier) September 19, 2024

Almighty God, who didst call thy servant Theodore of Tarsus from Rome to the see of Canterbury, and didst give him gifts of grace and wisdom to establish unity where there had been division, and order where there had been chaos: Create in thy Church, we pray, by the operation of the Holy Spirit, such godly union and concord that it may proclaim, both by word and example, the Gospel of the Prince of Peace; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today the Church of England commemorates Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, 690

Image: Window in the Chapter House of Canterbury Cathedral. Photo by Lawrence OP, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, via flickr pic.twitter.com/KkjqSzXmec

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) September 19, 2024

O Thou who dwellest in every humble heart, and dost consecrate it for thy sanctuary: Hallow, we pray thee, our hearts within us, that they may be houses of prayer, the dwelling-places of thy Spirit, wherein thou dost reveal thy holy mysteries; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Who's been enjoying this weather? 🌞 We enjoyed #Malham Tarn on this beautiful morning recently.

The tarn is said to be the highest limestone lake in Britain at 380 metres above sea level and is rich in submerged aquatic plants.

Wendy McDonnell I #YorkshireDales #NationalPark pic.twitter.com/ct0bMWPhcF

— Yorkshire Dales National Park (@yorkshire_dales) September 19, 2024

“But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
Man does not know the way to it,
and it is not found in the land of the living.

–Job 28:12-13

Good Morning World … welcome to Thursday! ☀️ pic.twitter.com/xpSUdFcE3y

— Cloudymamma (@cloudymamma) September 19, 2024