The other day I was shuffling through some old papers, things I’d written in a different time, in a time when jobs were plentiful. Wow! How things have changed! Reading what I’d written, I could easily recall the perception of plenty that surrounded me at the time I wrote it. I recalled how permanent that plenty seemed to be. There was little gratitude in what I’d written, though I’d written it as a cautionary tale, as a hint that it might be a good idea, when choosing a profession in which about one-third of one’s waking life would be spent, to choose well. Today, choosing seems a luxury.
Behind the windows
peered my reflection:
a sleepy morning person
running to catch my train,
off to spend my time in
miserable disdain ~
to a place I don’t want to be;
but, I wish it away
in vain, as I find myself
deboarding, then
catching another train.
The tracks click under my seat,
carrying other people like me
to the bus~
the morning people,
most of us:
wondering if it’s worth all of this:
but, still I find myself
deboarding the bus,
minding my head
that tells me: I must.
Perhaps the cautionary notion of choosing a career well remains a valid one. But, I realized how impermanent anything really is, only after going back and pondering the way it once was, the way it once seemed it would always be. It’s a good thing, to reflect back once in a while; it helps give us a clearer perspective on the present. The point is not to remain stuck in the past, but to remind us that we have changed, how we have changed, and what got us to where we are now. Then we can move forward, a bit wiser, and perhaps with a bit more gratitude.
Jobs are not plentiful today. A great many people sit at their dinner tables with their families, more likely eating a meal of green beans and boxed mac and cheese than steak, and maybe skipping breakfast or lunch to save the money. Those people would be happy to have a job, even one they didn’t particularly like. Sometimes being happy with what one is doing, isn’t the point. Sometimes just surviving is the point. And that’s where a good many of us are today. Things have definitely changed.
©Janet Mitchell, 2011
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That’s not just logic. That’s really senislbe.
I’ve been fortunate in that my job has been spared during these tough times. I have friends who have not fared as well, but they manage to survive, often on less, but they still find happiness.
My job isn’t perfect, but I can hardly complain. I am fortunate and I know it.
I’m so glad I found my solution olnnie.
I can identify with the poem as I worked for many years in the corporate world in NYC, and I would take that train wondering if I would ever do something different with my life, didn’t like what I did, but had to continue at the time working out of having to meet responsibilities. Jobs were very plentiful then as you say, so there was never a concern about unemployment. My s/o and I were jabbering the other day, that today’s young generation do not enjoy the abundance in the job market that the baby boomer generation had. Enjoyed reading this, made me reflect!
I am 68, so I was working 50 years ago. I worked hard but I was never afraid to quit a job or look around if I wasn’t happy with the situation. Sometimes I would purposely take off a couple of weeks between jobs to get caught up…on whatever. Until I found my bliss, I was never at a job longer than 2-3 years. That wasn’t so popular at a time when folks retired with a gold watch. All I could see was “don’t be bored” & “keep learning something new”.
I have no idea what it must feel like to be unemployed & trying hard to find anything. That’s a different culture. I am so sorry it’s come to this.
BTW-My Bliss was commissioned sales. Never a dull moment, no limits.
Economies are in dire startis, but I can count on this!