So, people are getting laid off all over the place. The place where I employed (as opposed to working freelance, which I do as much as working for someone else) just went through a round or lay offs. Other people I know have lost their jobs. When I heard about the people that have lost their employment it makes me really and truly sad. I have been laid off before by a .com company that was going under. I have lost my job 2 weeks before Christmas. Regardless of the time though it is never a good time to lose your job.

As for now I am not in danger of losing my jobs (freelance or otherwise). This I count as a blessing. One reason though is that at my regular job I have learned enough that I could step into about 95% of the positions here and do the job as good as anyone in the company. This is the makeup of my department, we are a group of versatile people who can do a myriad of things. Also though there have been those who have moved on to other places that has kept us from risking a loss. In this I have thought today about those with whom I have worked at this place that have moved on. I started here and the job I do now was going to change the whole company. Everyone was going to touch what I was working on in some way. Or that’s how they talked about it anyway… Well shortly after I started at this company one of the people I worked with, who had similar responsibilities left. No matter, I took over doing what she did and I could easily handle the overflow. Then the guy incharge of the whole operation left, he decided to go off to Hawaii and surf. Neither of these people were replaced, instead someone else was plugged in as a bandage and I once again stepped in and took over with no one there to support or direct me. And it was about this time that I started to wonder why I didn’t take the job offer from some other company a few months before, even though my current company matched their salary offer. I really think things would have been very very different, but who really can say…

So now I am still here, still doing pretty much the same thing, and having people around me leave either because they are scrambling to find another place to work or they no longer have a job at all. And as I see those in my department leave because they choose to and have found something else to do I wonder why it is that I didn’t take the other offers I was given. But then I realize that this place needs me and for now I need them too. I am going to be completely self employed some day, not just half-time. Working where I do now lets me build on what I really want to do, and even though there are other things I would rather be doing with my time than what I have done for almost the last 5 years I know that the pay off for my patience will better than just a more exciting job. And I am glad that I went into the industry I am in because I’m good at it.

I really hope though that those who are facing the uncertantity of being unemployed that you will some how be taken care of. I hope that help will come, like it did for me and my family in our rough times. And I am sure that we will yet have our own rough times and I just hope that the help will be there when we have our own.

Andy Pettitte, a pitcher for the New York Yankees has said he won’t play for them for a one-year, $10,000,000 (Yes that’s TEN MILLION) contract. He is stating this because the previous year he made 16 million. I would like to formally announce to the Yankees that I am able to make that sacrifice, and unlike many professional athletes I believe I can feed my family on that – for the rest of my life… So I’ll waiting for my contract offer, I mean I don’t even play baseball and done really like the sport, but I think that an offer like this can change my mind on both.

So it’s now 2009, and there are a lot of people spewing gloom and doom out in the world. Some are worried about the new President, and I’m heard some pretty absurd opinions about the man. This is what I know right now about him though, he is my president and I believe in this country. A lot of people felt it was time for a change, and this is a government for the people – by the people. That has been undermined in a lot of ways and I think that a lot of what this country is struggling with right now is in part because of this. Special interest, corruption, etc. I just really hope we have the right man in the white house of those who were running, and the fact is we’ll never know how it would have turned out otherwise. What is really infront of us is a job to do. It’s something that won’t be easy, too much credit hanging over the heads of the whole country. There are the fuel and energy issues, which will require a huge undertaking to resolve. There are the conflicts in other countries that we need to take care of in a correct way. There is the huge problem with the housing industry and there are 3 huge auto makers that are facing the possibilities of bankruptcy. Unemployment is high, people lose their jobs every day. Unemployment is pretty high, but if you know someone who lived throught the depression, ask them how that was. Yes we have tough things to face, but not any tougher than what generations before us have come through. We are not facing a war where millions of people die. We do not have the depression of the 1930′s. We are not all dieing off due to the plague. We do need to be smart though and do what we can to dig in. What that means for each person, I’m not sure. It may mean being thankful for your job and doing it well so that when an employer has to face the reality that it cannot keep all of it’s employees then you are the person they just can’t let go. It may mean being industrious and stepping out and starting a business of your own, rather than depending upon someone else for your pay check – this may be scary, but ask those who founded this country how it felt to go to war against one of the most powerful countries in the world. It may be volunteering your time or helping a neighbor or family member who is facing difficulties due to these struggles. That is for each person to decide. The real thing is though, I feel anyway, is that we all have been very complacent and comfortable in what we have been doing in this country and we need to stop doing that and get out and do something for the good. One act may not seem to change everything, but what if you had 300 million acts? That will be noticed.

Now I feel that 2009 has the potential to be a very good year for me and my family, I hope it will be for you. Let us not all become victims to fear and sit there while the walls crash in, but do something to make sure the walls get stronger.