I encourage each of you that are reading this to absorb the impact of this sentence. What does it mean to no longer be working? Think about that.
"I am unemployed."
Imagine how this statement feels when it rolls off of your tongue. Imagine that it is you and that you have to own this statement. You automatically feel that you are less than the people that you are speaking to. You must now be "among the unemployed." How many are there of us? Is the count up or down? Who will help us to re-gain employment?
In reality it is only us - the unemployed - that will reclaim our lives. Our livelihood. But, the fact is that most of us are fighting to keep our work. Can you imagine? Struggling to keep the means to feed our families and secure our futures. I have been in the workforce for almost 35 years. I graduated from college in the late 70's and believed that there was a world of work in front of me, but I found that my work, my career, was controlled by people richer than me, and more "powerful" than me that considered me nothing more than a revenue source. Someone to pay for their salaries. It is a sad fact of working today - you are either a money-making machine, or you are tossed aside.
But, it is a fact that I was making money for my company, but not enough in their eyes. I was making money for myself and my family, but maybe too much in their opinion. I was the one to go so that my salary could be pushed into profits. For my managers it was a transaction. Moving cost into revenue. Not much more.
Isn't it amazing that corporate leaders can disregard the meaning of work from those that work for them? Aren't you astounded that executives can view you, who are a mother, a sister, wife, daughter, and professional as a line on a spreadsheet?
But, what I think that we all come to is that you and I are not that. We are our own flesh and blood. We have our own lives and our own value. We are not to be judged by those that take away our work.
Today I am speaking to you as much as I am speaking to myself. Deep within me I am strong. I know I offer tremendous value to the world and the people around me. I am not a line on a spreadsheet. I will remain here long after my name is archived in some corporate database. So will you.
I am living. I am working. No matter how hard you try to erase me, I am here.
