Unemployment: Not Such A Bad Thing?

January 4, 2009

This article in New York magazine (http://nymag.com/news/business/53153) put seven faces to America’s unemployment statistic in their Jan. 5, 2009 issue. Two of these stories came from men who are now at home with their children all day, I’m guessing for the first time ever. Their egos and dreams were dashed upon the rocks and yet they were surprised at how their kids didn’t look at them any differently.

Of course they don’t. Kids typically don’t understand/care/remember that time when dad was out of work. They only remember when Dad (or Mom) picks them up from school and has dinner with them at the table. If spending more time together as a family is a by-product of getting laid off, then maybe unemployment isn’t such a bad thing. Little kids can be great reminders of what is important in life.

Unemployment presents us with an opportunity. Over the coming months, we have a chance to reevaluate our priorities and rethink our needs vs. our wants. It’s inevitable, as human beings, that we take things for granted during times of surplus. It also makes us bigger people if, during our times of need, we find ways to give. If the 7.10% of Americans who are out of work switch their mindset from being entitled to a job to being blessed with one, how would the rest of us be affected? (For one thing, we might not be the nation with the highest enrollment in Anger Management classes.)

Soon we’ll be headed back to the metro for our morning shifts. Employment will pick up again, albeit in new realms of unfamiliar industries. But before that happens it would be great if we could be transformed by what we hear. When the news broadcasts repeatedly how many jobs are being lost it’s up to us to interpret that as 4.5 million opportunities