Viewpoint by David Boyd/reporter
Approaching late 20s, early 30s, Generation X and Gen Y-ers have a sense of urgency to achieve and a need to validate our youthful dreams. College educated, but inexperienced, we find it tough to carve out a niche in this economy, let alone become the world beaters we had hoped to be at this stage in life.
We thought since our parents’ generation had included so many middle class homeowners with typical American comforts despite an education that often topped out at a high school education, our college education would guarantee more. It doesn’t.
We live instead in an economy full of distrust and confusion, where corporate scandals and greed have shrunk the pie for years to come. We live in a time when lifelong employees do not get the gold watch at retirement but are rewarded with a pink slip if the job can be performed adequately when outsourced to a call center some place where good enough gets it done.
It’s a tough time to be a new entrant into the workforce. It is not business as usual, and several friends have felt the pressure to live up to the dreams they had, the dreams their parents had when they graduated high school. I remember that Dr. Seuss book, Oh, the Places You’ll Go. None of us thought the places we would go would be from one crappy apartment to another or, like some of my college educated friends, back into their parents’ homes.
It’s not all about the jobs because jobs can be had even in a recession. A fired worker can always find new work, just not equivalent work. Similarly, as the population ages, retirements normally occur and new opportunities appear. The economy has hurt older workers’ retirement packages, leading many to delay retirement and stay longer at top positions that, if vacated, would have gone to younger workers. Instead, the mall jobs and entry-level clerical work we should have outgrown by now are ours a little longer. This setback delays other opportunities, like owning a home, starting a family, traveling and world conquering.
Chins up, though. Determination, education and time will eventually turn out well for the disheartened. As we approach and pass our prime, certain jobs that can’t be outsourced, such as healthcare, continue to grow. We are living longer and working longer, so maybe our time should come a little later. My friends still want to be politicians, screenwriters and business owners. They still dream, and maybe their disappointment is a sign they refuse to stop dreaming. We realize in a competitive world, we need the education to open some doors for us. We are just impatient. We have places to go, you know.
