I posted this on facebook a while back. I'm lazy today so I'm just going to do a quick copy and paste (with some editing):
In this life we live, there are going to be mysteries. There are going to be things we can't explain. The nature of people in history is to make up stories for those things we can't explain. The sun was seen as a god, the earth was flat, oceans could not be crossed, the woods were full of strange magical creatures. Before we see the whole picture, the truth is only as convincing as the minds that imagine it. It's like getting a piece of a puzzle and trying to explain what the whole thing looks like. We don't know what it is, we want to know, and when someone comes around with something good enough, we will believe that unless something better explains it.
That being said, i can't let myself believe in aliens because i haven't experienced enough to make a decision one way or another. I still believe they could exist however, but that doesn't make me a believer in them. Other people claim to have seen things, experienced mysteries that fit the stories they have heard of aliens. They see something strange flying, and they explain it to themselves as aliens. They see a strange light, or see something odd falling to the earth that doesn't get a reasonable explanation, then it must be aliens. I believe people have seen things, i believe strange situations are out there. But i also believe they are all just pieces of something much larger. that just because we can't explain it doesn't mean we should stick an alien label on it.
But if there were aliens, it is interesting to think about what they would be here for. I think that we are nothing more to outer intelligence than an ant farm is to us humans. We're out there, we're fun to observe, but we really do nothing for them but go about our lives and give them something to look at when they're bored.
I think if anything was to come here exploring from somewhere else, it would be something like what we do to with Mars. We send some high priced gizmo over there to take photos and get some research. There's not really much we can do with it right now, but in case there are some secrets it holds for our scientific research, or if it's possible to colonize it someday when we use up our own planet, we like to know these things well ahead of time. I'm sure if we ever found intelligent life somewhere and could send something to take pictures and research it, we would do it. But we also would make sure we did it in a way that wouldn't interfere with their daily life or make them want to shoot our equipment down, because that's highly expensive.
Maybe we'd want to try to communicate with this other world and establish a social link with them, or maybe they're nothing more to us than some unrelated creatures that won't do anything for us. Maybe they do some amazing things but our language barriers are far too different for communication. Maybe to others, we're just hideous little creatures that work as a colony and don't have any intelligence, not like they do. Maybe our brains are too small to possibly think like they do. Maybe our bodies are much too fragile to be of any use to them. Maybe we're too underdeveloped to be worth their time. What we do that we find impressive, maybe they think we're tinkering away so far in the past. If there were other life out there, I think it it is quite possible this other life would just view us as something interesting, but of no real value. If we were worth their time, if they wanted us to know something, or wanted our attention, I'm sure they'd find a way.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Thursday, July 2, 2009
No job
So, I am unemployed again. Seems like this happens to me a lot in my life. I'll be working a good job, and then I'll either have to move, or it was a temp job, or I'd be laid off. The results are always the same. I am stuck at home, unable to find something as easily as I would have hoped, filling out dozens of resumes and applications, and hearing nothing back from any potential employers.
I don't know how common my problem is with today's economy. I don't know what kind of advice or hope I can offer. All I can say is that it is happening to me, and this is my story.
About a year ago, things were going good for me. I had just had my friend put in a recommendation for me at the company he worked for. The company was hiring, I was out of a job, and the pay there was great ($14.00 an hour). So I signed up. I was working with my best friend, the people there were friendly, the company was making good money, and life was great. I had good credit, I had a nice vehicle, I had a good sized television, a nice apartment, all was good.
Then some family problems hit in January of this year and I had to move out back with my parents. My parents lived in a small town, and jobs were scarce. I could not find work. I had a friend who was working at the local factory who said he could get me in, and was glad that i moved back.
At the time though a lot of people were laid off and took up any open positions at the factory. A month went by. Two months. Three months. I had no job. I had no money left. I had a car payment to make, credit card payments to make, a loan I had taken out, past due bills. My parents couldn't help me on all that. I could barely afford gas to go anywhere, and when I would get somewhere I wouldn't have any money to do anything. I didn't go anywhere. I never even was able to visit my friends. I had a girlfriend who lived 60 miles away, just visiting her was a lot of work.
After three and a half months of living at home with my parents in a small town and not having any money or a job, I decided against my conscious that the best solution would be to try and stay with my girlfriend. She was from a bigger town and surely there would be job opportunities. So that's what I did.
It took me weeks to find a job I could land. I would be up every day applying for a job. I'd apply to five or six places a day - for anything I could get to pay the bills. I eventually found a temporary night shift position for $9.00 an hour stocking shelves. I took the job. It was grunt work, but it was work.
I was finally able to work for a few months and keep my car payment up, and my loan payment. I had insurance on my car which cost a lot, and aside from those payments and groceries I was broke. My cell phone was flooded with calls from bill collectors until that too was shut off from non-payment. I tried to work something out with the companies to pay them off, I tried to reason with them, but the bottom line is they wanted something, and I couldn't afford anything.
So now my credit is shot. I pulled a report about a week ago, and it's at 438 or something like that. It was at 700 a year ago. That's how quick things can change. My temp job ended too. I can't find anything else out there. I am trying to take a classes at the college, but I have no idea where I am going to get the tuition. My car payment is due now, and I don't have that either.
I can't imagine how bad this economy must be for someone worse off than I am. I have good references, I have some college under my belt, I am a hard worker, I have no criminal background, I have no disabilities. Basically I am an untapped resource, or a surplus on a shipment of ideal workers. I am everyone's ideal employee and I can't land a job. I am in a city and I can't land a job. I am where the jobs are, and able to work any job, and there are no jobs.
The other day I went to the job center, thinking they'd be able to help me out. I couldn't stay there too long. The place was flooded with people. People who were there to do one thing, which was to search the internet on the one job site the state has put up to try and land a job. I don't know which was harder to realize while I was there: the fact that there were dozens of people competing with me daily for what little the job site had to offer, or the thought that so many people were without jobs who didn't even have the luxury of the internet I do now. Part of me feels so guilty for even wanting to try for these jobs when so many people are desperate for anything. Another part of me feels so (and i hate to say it) below myself to have to put myself in the same job hunting position as all these people.
I hate to say that I am better than anyone, because I know I am not, and I respect everyone for trying so hard and doing whatever they have to in order to get by. It's just the feeling of knowing I am qualified and able to work and do so much with my life, and not having the opportunity to do so.
I want a good life. I want good credit again, I want to be able to pay off bills, own a home, support a family, help people, visit friends - you know? I just want that normal American dream everyone talks about. I am willing and able to do whatever it takes to get there. It just seems more and more like I hit a dead end and I don't know how I will get out. That is my story.
I don't know how common my problem is with today's economy. I don't know what kind of advice or hope I can offer. All I can say is that it is happening to me, and this is my story.
About a year ago, things were going good for me. I had just had my friend put in a recommendation for me at the company he worked for. The company was hiring, I was out of a job, and the pay there was great ($14.00 an hour). So I signed up. I was working with my best friend, the people there were friendly, the company was making good money, and life was great. I had good credit, I had a nice vehicle, I had a good sized television, a nice apartment, all was good.
Then some family problems hit in January of this year and I had to move out back with my parents. My parents lived in a small town, and jobs were scarce. I could not find work. I had a friend who was working at the local factory who said he could get me in, and was glad that i moved back.
At the time though a lot of people were laid off and took up any open positions at the factory. A month went by. Two months. Three months. I had no job. I had no money left. I had a car payment to make, credit card payments to make, a loan I had taken out, past due bills. My parents couldn't help me on all that. I could barely afford gas to go anywhere, and when I would get somewhere I wouldn't have any money to do anything. I didn't go anywhere. I never even was able to visit my friends. I had a girlfriend who lived 60 miles away, just visiting her was a lot of work.
After three and a half months of living at home with my parents in a small town and not having any money or a job, I decided against my conscious that the best solution would be to try and stay with my girlfriend. She was from a bigger town and surely there would be job opportunities. So that's what I did.
It took me weeks to find a job I could land. I would be up every day applying for a job. I'd apply to five or six places a day - for anything I could get to pay the bills. I eventually found a temporary night shift position for $9.00 an hour stocking shelves. I took the job. It was grunt work, but it was work.
I was finally able to work for a few months and keep my car payment up, and my loan payment. I had insurance on my car which cost a lot, and aside from those payments and groceries I was broke. My cell phone was flooded with calls from bill collectors until that too was shut off from non-payment. I tried to work something out with the companies to pay them off, I tried to reason with them, but the bottom line is they wanted something, and I couldn't afford anything.
So now my credit is shot. I pulled a report about a week ago, and it's at 438 or something like that. It was at 700 a year ago. That's how quick things can change. My temp job ended too. I can't find anything else out there. I am trying to take a classes at the college, but I have no idea where I am going to get the tuition. My car payment is due now, and I don't have that either.
I can't imagine how bad this economy must be for someone worse off than I am. I have good references, I have some college under my belt, I am a hard worker, I have no criminal background, I have no disabilities. Basically I am an untapped resource, or a surplus on a shipment of ideal workers. I am everyone's ideal employee and I can't land a job. I am in a city and I can't land a job. I am where the jobs are, and able to work any job, and there are no jobs.
The other day I went to the job center, thinking they'd be able to help me out. I couldn't stay there too long. The place was flooded with people. People who were there to do one thing, which was to search the internet on the one job site the state has put up to try and land a job. I don't know which was harder to realize while I was there: the fact that there were dozens of people competing with me daily for what little the job site had to offer, or the thought that so many people were without jobs who didn't even have the luxury of the internet I do now. Part of me feels so guilty for even wanting to try for these jobs when so many people are desperate for anything. Another part of me feels so (and i hate to say it) below myself to have to put myself in the same job hunting position as all these people.
I hate to say that I am better than anyone, because I know I am not, and I respect everyone for trying so hard and doing whatever they have to in order to get by. It's just the feeling of knowing I am qualified and able to work and do so much with my life, and not having the opportunity to do so.
I want a good life. I want good credit again, I want to be able to pay off bills, own a home, support a family, help people, visit friends - you know? I just want that normal American dream everyone talks about. I am willing and able to do whatever it takes to get there. It just seems more and more like I hit a dead end and I don't know how I will get out. That is my story.
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