Unemployed: Too Close for Comfort
For 23 years I reported on unemployment and talked about the statistics but they never really meant that much to me. Not that I didn’t care it’s just that I hadn’t experienced unemployment.
Now I pick up my shrinking Register Guard Newspaper and find the headlines are talking about me. I am one of the unemployed. Today’s headline read Oregon hits 9.9% unemployment in January. Technically that number doesn’t reflect me or many other Oregonians because we don’t qualify for unemployment. Before you climb all over me I’m not complaining. I quit my job knowing I wouldn’t get unemployment. But when you read a headline like that you must understand it’s not accurate.
It’s ironic really. I’ve tried to stay up on the latest trends and movements so I could be a better member of my community. When you understand people you do a better job serving. But this time I’ve gone too far. (I’m still smiling) Rather than staying a safe distance from the fire, I’m in it with many of you. Wow, it’s hot in here isn’t it? I had a guy ask me the other day what I was doing and I told him I’m unemployed. He thought that was great because he and many of his friends don’t have jobs either. I think he felt more connected to me because we had something in common.
The article also said state economists didn’t expect us to be out of this slump until maybe 2012. That’s a long time. So if you are one of us, one of the unemployed what do you do? Advice is the last thing we need. We don’t need to hear people tell us it will get better. You can’t say that unless you’re in the same line.
I’m going to just keep digging. I’ll look under any rock that seems moveable. I will ignore the headlines because waking up to that does me absolutely no good. I won’t depend on the government to help me or change my situation. I honestly don’t think the government (either party) knows what it’s doing. I will continue to hope “it” works but won’t bet my future on it. I refuse to be part of the problem and hope for failure. We can’t afford partisanship right now. I remind those in charge, those holding the purse strings, that when you are unemployed you don’t care who wins. You only care that people look for real solutions and leave their selfish desires for power out of the picture.
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My husband just got laid off two weeks ago. It sucks and it feels like there is no end in sight. We are just hanging in there, praying for work or opportunities for him, and thanking God I still have a great job.
I am ready for this to be over though.
I don’t think this will end anytime soon. But hold on, God is in charge and that gives me great hope. Remember, sometimes things have to fall apart in order to be put back together again. If God is good, and He is, every decision he makes is also good. It’s hard to see it that way sometimes but the truth is often difficult to understand. Look at congress and the state legislature. Truth is like a hidden treasure.
Try looking at things in a positive light… there are still 90.9% employed. Even in boom years, there are people who lose their job. Please don’t hear what I am not saying. I really feel for those who have lost their job. I have been down that rabbit trail before, and it wasn’t the most fun I’ve had. I’m just saying that the media wants to push down our throats that everything is falling apart at he seams. Some of you will remember the 70′s with double digit unemployment; very high inflation; very high interest rates, etc. While things are not the best right now, they certainly are not the worst. Don’t let the media pull you down. God is still in control… Always has been and always will be…
Rick, I am one of the many “working poor.” I barely make over minimum wage (last year I was making well over 35k a yr), working 32 hrs a week (last year 50+ including weekends), Im married and have two girls and yet, I couldnt be richer. I am using this time to go back to school and finish college, not with one, but two bachelor degrees. I know times are hard for most, if not for all.
I couldnt agree with you more, we need to keep focus on who is the one in control, who is the one who set the world in motion, and who is the one who gave us his son.
Great point. I used to hear the stories we’d do on how many kids were having sex. We’d always use numbers like 50-percent are having sex. We never made a headline that said 50-percent are not. It’s interesting how the media and we as human beings long to be negative. I think that’s why people are tuning away from the old sources of information and looking for something without the “Spin Cycle”. Thanks for your encouragement…..from all of us on the other side.
Wow, you are a brave man. I love hearing people’s stories like this. I think most of us get so wrapped up in our lives that we fail to see all the adventurous people out here. Hey, Randy, a friend an I were having a discussion the other day about the mass exodus that’s going on right now. Not from one thing, but from many. People are sick of institutions and jobs that wrap a ball and chain around their leg. You see it in the church, you see it in the business world, you see it in politics as well. People aren’t falling for the old ways anymore. They are looking for a new thing and I think it’s coming.
Comment on Rick’s last comment: Rick you brought up three things, politics, economics, and religion. Young pointed these three out in his book, The Shack, as the institutions we go to in order to control our lives and find meaning. The “big three” aren’t working so well these days. I agree with you, Rick, a new thing is coming. And, I think, that new thing is in the hands of Jesus.