I don’t have one friend who graduated college in the last year or two who isn’t struggling financially right now. These are bright, driven, visionary people too, people who spent thousands to acquire a quality education and worked hard to achieve the grades they did, people who were told all their lives that if they applied themselves and were responsible, they could achieve anything.
Now, Starbucks won’t even hire them. There is a tremendous and overwhelming feeling of failure, regret, frustration, and hopelessness. Thoughts like “I’m not good enough,” “I’m worthless to society,” and “What were the past four years for?” penetrate the restless and weary minds of many. People who enrolled in universities with the dream of educating future generations are seeing door after door closed in their face. Creative minds with media degrees in film and radio are being rejected by Bestbuys and Blockbusters.
So what should we do?
Do we move back home with our parents and slip into a state of apathy? Come to think of it, our little league trophy shrine and emo mix CD-R's do miss us. And after all, society seems to understand this notion. There’s less shame in it now then there was in years past.
Do we flee to the mission field? Maybe 6 months in Brazil will make us feel better about ourselves. South American Starbucks have to brew way better coffee than US ones anyway.
Do we go back to school? Ah, college.. life was AWESOME then. No worries, less responsibilities... a cafeteria! How hard would it be to take out a few more loans and just ride this recession wave out?
Here are some other ideas:
I was thinking of inserting some scripture here and then following it up with something like “See? God is just telling us to hang in there, keep on keeping on, it’s gonna be alright.” But honestly, that would have been forced. Obviously, our daily bread is Christ and His word and all of scripture is full of radical and relevant hope. Staying in God’s word, no matter how difficult it seems sometimes, is vital.
Another idea is to get involved in the local church. During this time where food is short, gas is expensive, and jobs are scarce, what if our age demographic chose to do something completely ridiculous and counter cultural like give ourselves away out of the little we have to offer? Serve at your local church and allow the church to invest in you as well. While money may be tight, there is something profoundly powerful and effective about the family of Christ sticking together and helping each other through rough times. It’s biblical.
Lastly, take a deep breath and step outside yourself for a moment. If you’re walking with Christ, thoughts like “I’m not good enough,” “I’m worthless to society,” and “What were the past four years for?” are classic torpedo launches from the enemy. Seriously, they have his name written all over them. Walk boldly in the confidence of Christ in you and everything that truth entails: the truth that He made you a creative, passionate, talented, and unique human being who possesses a sacred honor and dignity. You’re worth doesn’t come from what you do or what you accomplish but your adoption into the royal family of a matchless King. It doesn’t make sense in human society, I know, but it’s a truth worth hanging onto.
And by all means keep dreaming, creating, seeking, and listening. God is far from done here. Greater things have yet to come.
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Comments
Of course, not even Starbucks will "higher" them if they can't spell. :)
I sympathize with your plight. However, I'm troubled by the underlying notion that seems very prevalent in new graduates which goes something like this, "I went to college. I played by the rules. I should have a fulfilling job with a comfortable salary waiting for me when I graduate. After all, God owes me at least that." The same subtle sense of entitlement pervades most of our thinking about relationships in the Christian world. "I didn't sleep around... at least not this year... I attend church. I'm a good person. I deserve a husband or a wife who is moderately hot, gainfully employed, and socially adept."
When people lose a job, Christian friends often say, "That just means God has a better job waiting for you." When people lose a boyfriend or girlfriend, Christian friends often say, "That just means God has a better one waiting for you." At best, that's naive. At worst, that's deliberately deceptive. Perhaps God wants those of us who are unemployed (or underemployed like me) to learn true dependence on Him. Perhaps God has destined us for singleness. Perhaps our current job situation will endure for months or years or... for the rest of our lives... all so that our character is molded into the image of God's Son.
After all, God is far more interested in our character than our comfort. The question is, "Can I really trust a God who operates like that, or will I choose to remake Him into someone who eventually gives me what I want, if I just follow the right steps?"
Uh, oh... you just broke one of the cardinal rules of blogging.
You can't change your original post in response to a comment, especially when your alteration renders part of the comment moot. In case others are actually reading this, I'm referring to the fact that you used the word "higher" where you should have used "hire," and I jokingly chided you for it (including a smile emoticon). An editor should know better than to make post-comment changes, don't you think? :) :) (Note the two smiles!)
Just curious if you have any response to the rest of my comment...
First of all, nice post CJ. I think you capture a very real struggle that many new graduates are facing. After four years of life and $100,000 of loaned money (in some cases), I think it's reasonable that students have some expectation of being able to get a job. Otherwise, why make the investment in education?
Second of all, in response to the above comments. There are no "cardinal rules of blogging" that say you cannot go back and change an error. The very nature of the medium invites it. If anything a cardinal rule of blog etiquette would be that those who post public comments should not take cheap shots about misspelled words.
Brett, I find it curious that people are so touchy when they blog... not CJ... he didn't respond angrily to my comment... but you. First of all, I meant no "cheap shot," as you call it. That's why I added the emoticon after the spelling comment. Doesn't a smile symbol mean, "Smile, I'm teasing?" Or does everyone now assume it means, "I think you are an idiot"? If so, then the definition of a smile has changed and I apologize. You accuse me of a cheap shot, when my motives, light humor, are clearly demonstrated by my punctuation. Perhaps I should regard your comment as a cheap shot itself?
As for the "cardinal rules of blogging," you are mistaken. Isn't the purpose of blogging meant to be dialogue among a group? Aren't we meant to be able to follow the thread of the conversation and join into it anywhere along the thread? If so, changing the original post (or any comment) after it has been posted and has received responses renders parts of the thread unclear or completely moot and makes it impossible for future readers to follow the conversation as it has unfolded.
You're right, if you're saying there is no central authority for blogging which determines a set of laws by which we must obey. However, if we are trying to promote genuine dialogue and community (versus trying to make ourselves look smart and savvy), we should allow everyone who participates, both at the beginning of the conversation and at the end, to see and hear what everyone else has said. The most effective way to "change" your own post is to comment on it yourself, clarifying what you said or even laughing at your own unintentional slips. That's what most serious bloggers do, and it communicates a sense of humor as well as a willingness to invite others into your circle of shared thinking without trying to control how they respond or how their comments might make you look to others.
I stand behind my original comments, which no one so far has seriously addressed, that many graduates have unrealistic senses of entitlement when they graduate which paint God differently than he truly is. I was not accusing CJ of anything, just commenting on our culture in general. I have a bachelor's degree in engineering and a master's degree from a seminary. On March 1, I will have been unemployed for a full year. In the meantime, my wife and I scramble to make ends meet in part-time jobs, trying to pay our mortgage without losing our house, to feed our two kids, and to continue to pursue the two international adoption processes we've started because we believed God was leading us. Yes, I've had moments where I wondered, "Hey God, I worked hard to get my degrees. I have something to offer. Why aren't you coming through for me?" It's been hard... really hard.
It makes me angry when people say, "I know God will provide a better job for you when the time is right." That may not be true. Perhaps God has another plan for me. We know that his ultimate plan is to make each Christ-follower more like his Son. Perhaps the way he will do it in my case (or CJ's case) is to refuse to allow me to ever "make my mark" in the career world, because he knows I would become prideful and walk away from him, or because I can better sympathize with and minister to the unemployed if I live like them for the rest of my life. What I have to do... what I was encouraging CJ and his readers to do... is to be open to a bigger God, one whose plan might be drastically different than we expect, but one who is faithful to walk us through whatever plan he has. It gives me comfort to know that, even if God never provides the job I want or "deserve" because of my "hard work" and my college debt, that he will still never abandon me, that he will form me into the person he wants me to be.
If that was a cheap shot, I have truly lost my ability to communicate my heart and I apparently have no right to be a part of the Conversant Life community.
Nice post, CJ!
If I could offer a little encouragement...when I got out of college, the only job I could find at the time was part-time (but at least it was in a field I loved). I shared a house with A LOT of roommates, ate a lot of Top Ramen, and wondered what in the world had I gone to college for.
I look back at that time in my life now as really unique and special, and it molded me into the (older!) adult I am today. I was completely broke (I remember not having enough change to go to the laundromat at one point--and I was a summa cum laude graduate!), but I was also God-dependent. And during those years I so learned that it's people, not things, not jobs, that really and truly matter.
Those years have served me well. I trust it will turn out to be true for your generation too.
yeah, nice post CJ! i went through those times too. after college it took forever to get a job, and when i did it was totally not what expected, and i too was broke. i felt like, what did i go to school for? why didn't anyone tell me it would be like this? why did people say college was a good thing if it didn't get me anywhere? but then i went back to remember that God has a plan and purpose in every season of life, and during the time i couldn't see it, but later realized that he was molding me and shaping me, developing character that i couldn't have in any other way. so i look back at that time and am very grateful. God is faithful...always has been and always will be, and even when things aren't going the way we want them to, we just have to trust that God knows best...and He'll take care of us. He has our back.
Even though you're truly blessed with a full-time job, CJ, it's nice that you can acknowledge the chaotic uncertainty of the lives of your peers. It's an extremely difficult idea to deal with, what with the paradigm that's been instilled in us since the beginning of our educational careers:
We work hard in jr. high to get to high school, and we work hard in high school to get to college, and we work hard/pay lots and lots of money to go to college so we can be successful in the real world.
And in this America... it doesn't work anymore. It's not enough. What went wrong? We work hard and pay lots and lots of money to go to college so we can have a SLIGHT CHANCE of being successful in the real world. It's always been like this, we just don't want to let it ruin the American Dream.
We leave God out of the equation and we're destined to fail. However, all this talk about God "being in control," and "having this plan for our lives," and "we're going through this for a good reason," feels like a hard pill to swallow, no matter how true it is. Especially now, that we've got thousands of graduates pouring out of higher education into the workforce... is this really God's plans for all of us? Teaching us all to be dependent on Him? Or is this all the retribution for the way society has greedily handled itself thus far, each time pushing the consequences blindly on to the next generation and so forth?
The dam had to break, and somebody's getting wet sooner or later. It is true, during this difficult time, He grows and teaches us, and great things come out of here... but this entire situation is our own doing, and our fault.
Curious what everyone thinks of the highly anticipated book “You Have A College Degree, Now What?” Has anyone seen it on Amazon yet? I spotted it last week.
http://www.amazon.com/You-Have-College-Degree-What/dp/0578044048/ref=sr_...
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