Pariah on Society

From the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

Pariah

noun \pə-ˈrī-ə\

1 :a member of a low caste of southern India
2 :one that is despised or rejected: outcast

Okay, I should be thinking or doing something else, anything else but this. It’s full on distressing and depressing.

I lost my job a few months back. Laid off. Job elimination. Wow! I had enough work to more than keep me busy, but apparently the powers that be decided it was the right thing to do. Fine. That is the employer’s prerogative.

Anyway, since then I have been busy trawling through job boards, sending out my resume and taking workshops on resume writing, interviewing and such. There hasn’t been a lot that I am qualified for, but I have responded to those and more than a few for which I was either so over or under qualified that the chance of even getting a phone interview approaches nil. The agency I have been working through hasn’t had a lot, either. What they have called me about has been either so difficult to get to that I would spend my earnings on cabs or have been jobs for which I am not qualified. Bless them for trying, though.

Now, I am enrolled in a few classes, all evening or weekend to keep me free during the work day. Just in case. I’ve even signed up to do volunteer work at a local organization.

Anyway, I recently went out of town for a family function for two weeks. This was arranged a while back and the airfare was already paid, so I went. I told the unemployment insurance folks so it was not like I collected benefits during that time.

After months of beating my head against the wall, I needed some time to recharge and be amongst some friendly, supportive people. Having the time during the day to watch the news is a tad destructive. One sees the projections of how long the high levels of unemployment will last and certain folk who love to demonize the unemployed all too often. All too often. The former is depressing. The latter just layers on the distressing.

I was born here. I am a citizen. I have worked for a living for 35 years, more than 24 in this country. I have paid my taxes without question. Quibble, yes. Question, no. I value the fact that the government is there for emergencies, defense of the country, regulations of the finance, food, drug, etc. industries, education, and so on. An organization that keeps all 50 states equally safe is more important than most people understand.

Back to the story. I needed to get away from the disappointment and vitriol more than I can say. To be told that no matter how one’s job went away or how hard one has sought a new one, you are a pariah on society, is dehumanizing. You are not worth a helping hand or even a kind word. You are no more than a mongrel dog to be kicked when down.

As I said, it doesn’t matter how one lost their job. It doesn’t matter if it was because the company you worked for went out of business. It doesn’t matter if your job was outsourced to overseas or some other company in this country. It’s of no interest if your company just decided to downsize, whether to save the business or just increase profits. No reason matters. It’s is still your fault that you are out of work.

How does a country turn on its hard working people so easily? How do your neighbors, who were one day your friends, suddenly decide that you are dirt beneath their feet? How do you go from being a respected, contributing citizen one day to a thing that is feared and even hated the next?

I should have come back from my family feeling refreshed and ready to jump back into the process of finding work. Instead, I come back to escalated insults and innuendos, more people telling me that they would be happier to see me begging on the street instead of helping me get a new job so that I can be contributing again. They would rather I spend my entire savings then empty my meager retirement fund so that I would need to work until I die.

I have just me to worry about. How do people with families, with children, deal with this attitude? God help us if Americans no longer care about other Americans. God help us if ten percent of this nation is now considered to be of so little value that we are to be left to beg on the streets. If ten percent of this nation’s people are pariahs, God help America.