Crisis or opportunity?
It’s all in how you frame it:
recession depression
rich poor end beginning more or less.
How we describe and diagnose what is happening
has everything to do with what happens
and what is happening is what is happening right now
like a piece of modern music
that would otherwise be impossible to sing.
Do you remember how it was when we tried to get our first job?
How we had to pad our resume, make up experiences we never had?
Now they tell us to strip it down so we don’t intimidate
the person who is younger and less experienced
and after all, getting older only means we know we don't really know
Still, on March 9, 2009, the Chronicle headlines
announce what I’ve been writing about:
Older Job Seekers Face Extra Hurdles in a Tough Market
in the longest recession since the depression
with 12.5 million jobless, where an education is no inoculation
and a 62 year old who applied for more than 1000 jobs in 18 months,
finally got one interview, and was told he didn’t fit in
because the bias against older workers is so pervasive.
But here is another picture:
After no bite on the end of the job search line
for months J who just turned 54
has all at once many tugs and 4 interviews
and should a job be offered I’m not sure I would want him to accept
since we’re finally doing what matters most:
gently using the resources on this fragile earth
spending more time watching the sunset
and feeding each other.
And what about this:
getting a job and being laid off soon after
could be worse than not taking the job offered,
not loosing the unemployment check
and the opportunity to pursue a dream.
When there’s so little certainty about the future
there is so much less to lose, and so much more to gain
when we re-claim our freedom to create our lives.
Another frame:
There are long food lines
but the lines are for Pizziola, the restaurant on Telegraph Ave.
that’s too cool to have a sign
where beautiful young people are sipping cocktails
speaking of their latest love conquests.
There are people who really don’t think about
being laid off and the money they’ve lost.
Our realtor friend this week closed two deals
both over a million dollars and proclaims:
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