From the MIND of ANDROSatg

The Utah Pride Center hosts a month of activities to build a community amongst Salt Lake City’s transgender residents. November 14th marked the beginning of Transgender Awareness Week in the United States. However, in Salt Lake City Utah, #TransWk is in the middle of Transgender Education Awareness Month (TEAM). TEAM is organized by the Utah Pride Center’s TransAction program. The purpose of…

I came across an article the other day about unemployment in the US. After reading the very brief article, I started on the comments just to see what people were saying. And obviously I was rubbed the wrong way by a few of them.

Here is the article: The Plight of the Long Term Unemployed

My response:

I was un-employed/ under-employed for well over 99 weeks. I did receive my benefits, but that was not enough. I did not get a job because of the overqualified status given to me by several HR departments. I applied, applied and applied some more. 

You get tired of applying and never hearing back anything. You get tired of getting dressed for an interview for a job that you never seem to get. You go broke with the small subsidy that they give you to help you in the interim. Please explain how you are supposed to look for a job when you cannot keep up appearances or afford to have the clothes or to pay for internet. 

You can say you can take your laptop to a coffee shop. But have you ever lived in the areas that do not offer those things? What about having to sell your computer in order to pay bills or just to have enough to eat. I have been there.

I really hate reading about these statistics and rude comments about how people are just sitting on the butts or fall out of the system. I am obviously one of the lucky few who made it out of a tough situation, but it was not because the economy just changed. I had to change. Not everyone can do that.

It also helps to have a great support system. When I was ready to just give-up, my wife started applying for me. She started picking up the slack because that fire and determination that I once had, was extinguishing. She saw this. Many people saw this. I was not alone in trying to figure this out, but there are a lot of people that are. 

At this point in my journey, I do not see the point of blaming the president or congress because there "aren't enough jobs" The key to getting more jobs, is making more jobs. We make the jobs. Start your own business. Step outside the box. We might fall out of the "system" but that doesn't mean that we stop living.