Unemployment

Unemployment is clearly on the rise. At every turn, steadily employed individuals are finding themselves unemployed. Businesses are going out of business. Malls are becoming barren as stores are closing. Jobs are being lost everywhere.

Friends and family, neighbors and strangers are unemployed. Unemployment is not bias or racist. It affects everyone. People are facing bankruptcy and foreclosures more than ever. Desperate and destitute are turning toward drastic measures, some so far as suicide and homicide. It's grave. It's bleak. Times appear hopeless for many, quickly becoming the majority.

Promises of the new Obama Presidency insists on "Change", like most if not all, we hope it won't be too late.

I'm thankful for my job. I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful for my stability. I too wonder "when". When is it my turn? When will it happen to me? Will I be fortunate enough?

As I walked into work this morning I walked by a man standing alone on the sidewalk waiting for the public transit. I smiled and said hello. He likewise did the same. Then he said, "Wow, I miss having a job to go to work."

I was speechless. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to respond.

I didn't. I lowered my head, looked at my boots as they crunched in the snow and continued walking onward to the door of my employer. And at that very moment, I said a silent prayer of thanks, thanks because for another day, I can be thankful for what I have, employment.