The State of the Economy

The world is a scary place right now. I wanted to take a second out of my normal incoherent rumblings to talk about my life as it relates to the current state of the economy.

My father started his own business when I was four or five years old. I always wanted to go to work with him and help him out and when jobs permitted the presence of a small child, I was able to tag along and do little things like bring him tools or help clean up. My parents divorced when I was seven, and my dad relocated his business up north. During the summers when I went up to visit, I would work for him on a part-time basis, helping out on jobs and earning spending money to buy baseball cards, comic books and clothes, fix my bike, go to the movies, the local skating rink, or to the miniature golf course.

My mom always got up early, generally before the sun came up, to go to work. She found a job with the local school district working in the central kitchen making lunches for elementary school children. She has been there now for over 20 years and has woken up and worked and come home because she had two children to support. Her long day was never finished when she left work, she came home and started her second job as the mother of two more-often-than-not bratty and growing children. I know now that she was truly exhausted when she was finally able to go to bed and as I hit my teenage years, her nights of sleep were often short and fitful. We lived with my grandparents and while we always had everything that we needed - a roof over our heads, hot meals on our plates, clothes on our backs - I saw while I was growing up that she did without a lot so that my brother and I could have what we wanted and needed. I felt that if I could work and provide for my wants - clothes, going to the movies, going out to eat - I wouldn't have to ask her for money and she would have a little bit more to spend on my brother and herself. My grandmother had an older friend that lived at the end of our block - a retired school teacher - that she would help to do various things like go shopping, pay bills, and other things like that. She got me a job working for her around her house; yard work, mowing the lawn, doing dishes, cleaning floors, bathrooms, kitchens, vacuuming, making the bed, that type of stuff.

When I was 14, I got a work permit and a part-time job at a fast food restaurant and spent the last 15 years of my life since working and moving up the job ladder. I made it into mid-level management positions by taking any shift that was offered - days, nights, swings, splits, doubles - and finally wound up in a job that I liked with a good company that I really enjoyed working for. I bought a house at the end of November 2008 and was subsequently laid off at the beginning of February 2009 with 400 other employees when business at the company declined by almost 70% from where it was when I started in September of 2008. The layoff was seniority based and our only crime was being new to the company.

I was watching the news and kept hearing about the state of the economy. I kept hearing about the hundreds of thousands of people who were loosing their jobs on a monthly basis in the United States. I never thought that it could happen to me. And then I became a statistic. But hey, that's the state of the economy. I have been unemployed now for six months, and for a guy who has worked for the better part of his life, it has seemed like an eternity. I hit the streets and job boards on a daily basis looking for employment and suffering the same disappointment as millions of others. All the while I am collecting unemployment and hating myself for it.

I don't write this now so that you will feel sorry for me, I don't want or deserve pity for the situation that I am in, as a matter of fact, I have over 7 million other people that I share my predicament with and despite not working, I still have a roof over my head, clothes on my back, and hot meals on my plate. There are scores of others, I am sure, that are much worse off than I am and have nowhere to turn. I am one of the fortunate ones with good friends and family around me that have seen me through this and provide the support and encouragement to keep going, keep trying, and keep my head up. I am writing this to thank them. Without these people in my life, I don't know what I would do or where I would be. You are the ones that have kept me going despite the state of the economy and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.

From a listening ear and helpful advice, to smacking me on the back of my head to make sure that it settles on straight, to financial support, to food on my plate, to jobs for extra spending money, to the forwarding of resumes, I can't even begin to explain how grateful I am to have such wonderful people in my life that support me and make sure that I am taken care of. I have not forgotten how blessed I am to have all of you around me.

Thank you.