Do The World A Favor: Hire Someone

The inspiration for this post: Columnist Opens His Last Unemployment Check

I've been listening for over three years now to the lame attacks and specious criticisms of those who are receiving some form of welfare, be it food stamps, unemployment, Social Security, disability, you name it. The perception is that these people are fakes, liars, and slackers who are only interested in gaming the system and deriving as much benefit with as little input as possible. This conceals a very crucial but ignored fact of life:

Source: PhiladelphiaAttorney.com

Those critics are afraid to admit to themselves that the same thing could happen to them, and they would probably make the same decisions. By telling people to "pick themselves up by the bootstraps," they can more easily fool themselves into believing that they have any control over their income level. Do you have a boss? Then you don't control your paycheck; you are living, working, eating, and sleeping in a bed because of someone else's goodwill. Someone else had to do you the favor of taking a chance in hiring you. Now you turn around and tell others that it's their fault they can't find a job.

Do the world a favor: hire someone. Until you are directly the cause of someone else's employment, shut up and get back to your oh-so-secure job. If you aren't willing to give someone else a job, then you know exactly why people are unemployed and are part of the problem.

To the unemployed: Don't wait for someone else to hire you. Start your own business. Use your creativity, your skills, your life-experience to start a business. If you've worked at all, you know where there are places that companies are missing, marketing opportunities that are being overlooked, either because they are cost-effective enough or because of corporate politics. Ignore it, and ignore the naysayers who think you are foolish. Getting even 5 bucks a week starting your own business is better than nothing. I used to love playing Lemonade Tycoon. The principle is the same; sell people something for more than it costs you to produce.

Until those two conditions are met at the same time, can we just stop with all the judgments? The critics don't know the full story of the unemployed. I have yet to have someone listen to what's gone on in my life who didn't go, "Wow, no wonder your life sucks at the moment." But most people who are in my situation are the same. I'm not saying there aren't welfare cheats and liars and fraudsters out there, but there aren't enough of them to warrant all of us getting a bad wrap. Be compassionate, and recognize that while you sit on your high pedestal and snark at the people who are struggling just to get a meal, it wouldn't take much to topple that pedestal, and you might not even have any warning it's about to crumble.