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Move away from Wisconsin, unemployed - embrace the "new norm"
This entry was posted on 12/2/2009 3:03 AM and is filed under New Normal, Crappy Economy Redux, Perpetual Optimism.
Moving away from Wisconsin (again) to find a better life has been on my mind the last couple of blog postings. An article by Ruben Navarrette Jr., a contributor to CNN, caught my eye. " Move to where the jobs are ." The crux of the theme in Navarrette's offering is that in the end, we should celebrate the culture of moving away to find a job. And I quote:
"...10 million [unemployed], and you get a sense for what we're up against. Here again, the native-born could learn from immigrants, foreign students, and anyone else who has the moxie to leave behind family, friends, and the familiar in search of a better life. Those people may struggle, but they'll survive and get ahead. It has always been this way. And in a global economy, this is how it will remain for as far as the eye can see. The sooner Americans accept that, the better off they'll be. The better off we'll all be."
What a self righteous rube! My first instinct in reading this anecdote is, here is another perpetual optimist. My uncle who was a medical doctor used to say, "My idiot colleagues are excited the operation went procedurally perfect - the patient did die however."
I have moved away from Wisconsin three times in 35 years to find better work. I have moved another 10 more times while within various other venues. I won't apologize for using the cliché, "The grass is greener on the other side of the fence." Sure it is Skippy! Just keep telling yourself that. Moving away ain't what it is cracked up to be genius. And not every one who moves away has a chick-flick screen play for an outcome.
In the Janesville Gazette article, "Displaced workers consider leaving Janesville ," I posted a comment with a good deal more caution than Navarrette afforded us. I wrote:
" ...Left in '74 because the Janesville economy sucked. ...Left again in '81 because the Janesville economy sucked. ...Left again in '92 because the Janesville economy sucked and one could find a job in Madison, quit it at 10:00 a.m., and have another job by noon. This time it is a particularly egregiously bad Janesville economy.
I keep coming back here because, home is home. I love the region. I can't really leave now, I am too old. But, if pushed too far, all options must be explored.
I will not live in a card board box just to accommodate some local culture mystique and local leaders that live in fantasy (let's build 17 miles of sidewalks) - while the region really is descending into economic hell. There is a point where ritualistic fondness for a region is just plain unwise and dangerous to one's health and being.
I see little but seven dollar an hour part-time jobs here for the foreseeable future - if you can find a job at all. This is very similar to the other times I have left here. This seven dollar an hour part-time work culture has been here now a while, long before the local power brokers would admit there was a problem - like as long as four years ago.
We are in trouble, us working schleps are screwed, and if you are not in the Janesville power clique, you are really screwed.
Run if you must, it is just smart to save your families economically and spiritually. I for one, will not begrudge any one for a decision to leave an area regarding survival."
I still have boxes with things packed from two moves ago. Moving sets a person back at least two years financially, perhaps spiritually even longer, and any broken heart over a lost pet or favorite house left behind can stay with a person for life. It is hard on your relationships, families, kids, and pets. If you are the only care-giver, it is impossible to bring an 80-year-old mom with cancer around the country or world. Yes I know video email, FaceBook, and cell phones have made it a smaller world. But if you move 10 miles, you might as well move 3,000. The dishes still have to be packed.
What the hell is this nowadays, the Grapes of Wrath? My beef with Mr. Navarrette Jr. is that he is embracing and celebrating the "new norm." He has surrendered to that new culture of, "To hell with the worker and sentimentality." And, "Reject everything rooted, grounded, and solid in life in lieu of the almighty dollar."
Nice try, Mr. Navarrette! ...Gleefully moving to find a job as a fashionable new norm?...Tragic.
Moving to save my dignity?... A sad reality!...Been there done that!
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
This week's Wisconsin military service person to remember is Sergeant Benjamin C. Edinger, 24, of Green Bay who died on November 23, 2004, at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, from injuries he receive during enemy action in Anbar province, Iraq, several days before on November 14. Sergeant Edinger suffered shrapnel wounds from a homemade bomb. Edinger was a member of the 2nd Force Reconnaissance Company, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned that this had been his second tour of duty in Iraq after taking part in the first wave of the war in March of 2003. The Journal Sentinel went on to mention Benjamin was a 1999 graduate of Green Bay West High School. He had attended the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh for a time. Sergeant Benjamin Edinger was the 29th Wisconsin military service person killed in the war in Iraq since the spring of 2003.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
94,332 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
9,316 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,370 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
926 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
317 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
597 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
31,572 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,565 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
101 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
16 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
139 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
17 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; and, icasualties.org.
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