When people ask me about my work history, I talk about my first job out of school, in 1983, working in a nuclear power plant. I talk about the experience of working in a heavily unionized, male-dominated environment, and walking to my office in the middle of the plant with a hardhat and steel-toed shoes on.
Photo by Paul J.
What I don't talk about is just as important. I don't talk about having only one job offer that year, even though I graduated in the top 10% of my engineering class from a top-notch private university. I don't talk about seeing a majority of my classmates scrambling to find jobs that year. I don't talk about commuting 40 miles each way to work to a small town 60 miles outside of Chicago, in the middle of nowhere.
Why don't I talk about these things? Because I've forgotten what it was like. I just did it, lived through it, and moved on. I didn't know things were "bad, really bad." I just knew it was hard to find a job and I would have to make some sacrifices in terms of location.
1983 is often put up as comparison for what we are going through now. ("We haven't seen numbers like this since the last recession in 1983.") But if someone hadn't reminded me that the economy was bad in 1983, I wouldn't have known.
This is not a "I walked ten miles to school and you should be able to do it, too" story. But it is meant to give one perspective on bad times. We live through them and forget what it was like, not because our memories are that bad (although mine is getting worse with age), but because it's human nature to focus on today and last week and last month. Photo by aflcio2008
Yes, times are bad. Mainly because we have only today and yesterday and last month to think about. Did we make great strides in the last 25 years, since 1983? Yes. Are we still living in one of the most affluent societies (I'm talking about first world countries around the globe) that mankind has ever known? Yes. Do I feel lucky to be where I'm at today? Yes, absolutely.
The next time I hear someone talk about how bad things are, I'll just close my eyes and think of 1983.
Bad years? I have to think about money I lost in 1989, 2000, and 2008 in the stock market. But hope springs eternal and one finds ways to overcome hardships (economic, social, or personal). Difficulties may cultivate resiliency and growth.
Posted by: Paul C | July 07, 2009 at 04:49 PM
Your comment reminds me of the saying, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Indeed, I attribute some of the hardest years of my life, as a child and as an adult, to some of my successes later in life.
Posted by: Carol Ross | July 21, 2009 at 10:53 AM