2009 Was A Very Good Year?
For a year that started out with such brilliantly sparkling promise, it sure fizzled out early under the pall of brusque enmity.
For a year that started out with such brilliantly sparkling promise, it sure fizzled out early under the pall of brusque enmity.
On a purely personal level, my son, Pete, finally graduated from university last December. I say “finally” because it only took him 10 and a half years.
To date, he has yet to receive so much as a response into any inquiry for gainful full time employment.
So, he lugs his guitar and song repertoire to local bars, performing for drinks and… I was going to say tips, but the people where we live are so unsophisticated they don’t realize they’re supposed to extend gratuities to hardscrabble musicians — or waitstaff, for that matter.
Oh, the lad has a paying job at a retail department store, where management eliminates the expense of extending full-time benefits by limiting his hours to fewer than 30 per week (getting more than 20 is like pulling teeth with needlenose pliers).
Yes, Ebenezer Scrooge is alive and well, thriving throughout American commerce.
So, at 29, despite having earned a Bachelor’s degree Pete still lives with me and drives a 1997 Buick LeSabre that has been on the road in excess of 200,000 miles.
Well, I enjoy the company… and he’s a superb cook.
When it comes right down to the reality of life in today’s world, my son’s plight isn’t all that personal. Hell, even if he had graduated on time (in 2002 or 2003), the likelihood of finding a suitable job would have been minimal at best.
Had Pete found a “real” job, he might have entered into any number of obligations — rent or mortgage, car payments, utilities, credit cards, etc. — and then probably lost his situation, anyway, buried under an avalanche of debt.
One longtime friend was sent packing after years on the job, leading in short order to a house foreclosure; divorced and in his 40s, he now lives with his mother.
Two other friends are trying desperately to downsize, but can’t move because there are no buyers for their current dwellings.
Even the Veterans Administration went on a cost-cutting binge, reducing disability benefits for numerous recipients. After several months of angst fighting an attempt to cut my award 20 percent, the effort was stymied by my persistence and a stalwart VA healthcare professional.
The economic disaster left behind in the wake of the RoveCheneyBush trainwreck has everyone tied up in knots.
In the Twin Cities of Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, there are several neighborhoods people would visit during the Holidays because most homes put on grand displays.
(Okay, these were really status symbols of hardcore Right-wingers to one-up their neighbors, created by specialized companies that are paid to erect such exhibitions.)
This year, there are only a handful of homes among the local upper-crusters displaying any cheer whatsoever. Apparently, even the Republican elite, er, wealthy are hurting for disposable cash to shell out on non-essentials.
Look, don’t blame President Obama for the sorry economic state of affairs. The man inherited the worst downturn since 1930.
People are bitching about how he “promised jobs” that have yet to be created, but that isn’t entirely accurate. All across America there are infrastructure projects in the works, whether city streets or Interstate highways, that have put many in the construction field back to work.
These are improvements that went almost entirely neglected during the previous eight years; in that regard, he’s been good to his word.
However, anyone who was paying attention throughout the 2008 campaign knows Mr. Obama avoided a rosy scenario by continually reminding us that things were bound to get worse before they got better.
Unfortunately, every time the President does try to improve our situation — and do the work of the people, as we’ve overwhelmingly spoken out for — his efforts are squashed by the self-interested two-ton elephant that allowed the mess to be created in the first place.
It doesn’t help that the aforementioned elephant is aided and abetted by corporate greed and a mainstream media that infuses negativity into every endeavor at progress and change.
As 2009 moves out, all we can do is have the audacity to hope for clearing skies in 2010.
Happy New Year!
Shalom.
(Erstwhile Philosopher and former Educator Jerry Tenuto is a veteran who survived, somewhat emotionally intact, seven years in the U.S. Army. Despite a penchant for late-night revelry, he managed to earn BS and MA Degrees in Communications from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. On advice from a therapist, he continues to bang out his weekly “Out Of The Blue” feature in The Lone Star Iconoclast — providing much-needed catharsis. Jerry is also licensed to perform marriage ceremonies in 45 states.)
