A wistful ride on DC’s Metro – I Digress.
The experience on the DC metro caused me to think back to the days preceding my DC trip. I had just completed a seminar sponsored by Workforce Connection where the main speaker was employed by Monster.com. Reliving some of the conversations and phrases that were spoken during the class, I was reminded how easily it is for someone to slip back into an inferior mindset. . .
There I sat on the DC Metro next to complete stranger dressed in business attire. He did not appear as one who wanted to engage in conversation, so I said nothing and shifting uncomfortably, looked out the window. While waiting for my stop, I wondered to myself how many of the business clientele on the metro had landed a job without the aid of a lead, friend or connection. I kept my thoughts to myself but all I could think of was – surely this is not the way it is done!
I remembered what Aeries, the speaker at the seminar, said about getting out and networking with others. Aeries made job searching sound so effortless, but in reality, looking for employment is a full time job. She’d explained that it was not just one’s credentials that landed a job; it was a series of events that were connected, sort of like leads. One contact may not yield a job, but it could possibly open doors to another lead. Eventually the right source would net a position for you, albeit through connections, leads, and with the appropriate education & experience.
As the Metro chugged along and I waited for my stop, I continued the slide down into the dark recess of my mind. I maintained my sanity and clarity, though it was masked by my emotionless expression, and my sun glasses. There I sat, reliving that frightful day in the crowded auditorium, filled with unemployed people. This did nothing but dredge up the hidden anxiety that had lain dormant until now. I remembered my first impression walking up to register for the event. I saw the long line of people and thought nothing about it. I figured they were all registering for various summer classes since it (the seminar) was being held in the auditorium of a local college. How wrong I was!
I entered the building and walked to the back of the line waiting patiently for my turn to approach the registration table. As I waited, more people lined up behind me. My heart and countenance literally sunk as I saw the number of unemployed people seeking assistance. I felt like a small speck in such a huge pool of applicants. Even more disturbing, I thought, were the number of folks who had to be close to retirement age. They looked to be in their mid to late fifties –perhaps just a couple of years or so from retirement. My guess was simple: these folks were the people who had worked in the same position or for the same company for years, maybe a couple of decades or more. They were the ones who were the first to get “downsized” because they’d been there the longest and perhaps were making more than what a “new hire” would earn.
As I took my seat in the auditorium after registration, a pit of nausea welled up in my stomach. I sat for the first few minutes in disbelief at the sheer volume of people in the room. Oh yes, I had been aware of the economic down turn. Yes, I had been aware and had read daily about the people who continued to lose their jobs. But coming face to face with those printed statistics who were now robed in flesh made me realize the magnitude of our current recession. These were people! And people had faces! I looked directly into the eyes of those “statistics” and saw the hurt and pain that was clearly evident. Until then, even after my own lay off, numbers or “stats” of unemployed people were just that – numbers.
Since that day I’ve realized that people are so much more than just numbers. Not that I didn’t already subconsciously know that, but I am now more acutely aware of the significance a person feels while employed, and how insignificant one can feel -when he is not.
My thoughts end abruptly as the Metro pulls into my station and I begin to gather my belongings. I am visiting the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum today and learning about the travels of yesteryear; perhaps a glimpse of the past will inspire and enlighten me, as I Journey through The Stages of Unemployment.
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