I remember the balloon of panic that swelled in my chest, a new husband, a new father, and newly unemployed. Life in the rolling green space of Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County was in many ways ideal. But if your last name was not Dutch and you had not grown up farming with mules, finding a job was like entering planting season without seed to scatter.  

Being without a job meant more to me than losing a source of income. In America, where new relationships typically begin with the question, “what do you do?” losing a job also meant losing my identity. Americans have a uniquely self-reliant view of work. We love the image of the “up from poverty” hero, a person of self-reliance who will be the next Donald Trump . . . uh, well, maybe not him, since he is back in bankruptcy court. Again. But somebody handsome and dashing, with a Disneyesque story.  

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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?

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