Iraharleman's Blog

A glance into the mind of the unemployed

iraharleman — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:54:02 +0000

Recently, I was laid off from my job. At first I was a little scared of the job market, since all I were seeing on television, and hearing the on the radio was conversations concerning our economical woes. As far as the media forecast was, the job market is going to get even worse within the next few years. This is a frightening thought to many unemployed workers. There will be hard questions that you will have to find answers for. Like for instance, what are we going to do once our unemployment benefits have run out? What are we going to do when our bills are at a point that we are helpless from preventing power from being shut-off? And if that happens, what are we going to do in order to keep our children warm in this upcoming cold weather season?

The most obvious questions that will be asked by many Americans during the first stages of their unemployment will be, “How did we as a nation get here? Where did all the middle-income jobs go? How long will this last? Why isn’t our government doing something to provide more jobs? “

These answers are going to be hard to hear. Our nation has been heading this direction for a long time now. I remember the first time I began to notice that times were changing. It was during the Eighties when many hard workers received notice that the textile mills were downsizing. The layoffs began and continued until all the textiles were headed overseas. If I am not mistaken, Mr. Warren Buffet did a lecture tour explaining to the intellects that this was a new era, “the era of globalization”. He explained how it was more profitable to go overseas and build their companies where they could elude heavy employment costs. Owners could build at places that did not require workers to be provided with health insurance. The worse case scenario was these companies would basically by providing a stipend to these foreign governments, so the management would be able to dictate work conditions as they saw fit. For example, workers are not required to work over forty hours here in the Unites States. But in other countries, workers face losing their jobs if they don’t work over forty hours.

So in reality, everything our forefathers had fought for with the help of unions was beginning to disappear. Many of Americans who died during this fight passed in vain. We are now powerless in the fight against corporate greed because the fight is no longer in our backyard. Many Americans will look to their leaders for answers, but they seem to forget these leaders are part of the problem. Our government knows the problem and the solution but will not do anything about it. Why? Because the globalization of our financial markets, is the one thing that our government has been prepared for. They understand the new economics and how it will affect the new profit line. These leaders have been educated on the flexibility of Wall Street and are aware that a dramatic change in the way we live is on the horizon.

The United States has been slowly transforming from a leader in production to a more consumer-based society. What does this means in layman’s terms? Imagine for a moment that you are an owner of a farm. Every day you work as hard as you possibly can so you could provide a comfortable life for your family. Each year you will be faced with obstacles like, the weather, seeds cost, taxes, fuel and wages for employees. Then one day the government steps in and offers your family a per diem on the size of your land to stop producing, an offer you cannot afford to pass on. You take the offer, and every one of your employees has just lost their income. But you still have this land. Now instead of farming, you decide to build a bed and breakfast or a hotel because you just so happen own a property by a beautiful lake. Since then you have made a hefty income mainly because you have cut your cost even more to become competitive, and by cutting costs, you decided to cut down on your staffing needs.

Life is good and your children are set; they get to go to private schools and receive a better education. They will receive an education that will help them stay competitive with the rest of the world. This plan sounds like the American dream and in a way it is. But what happened to all those misplaced workers you had on the farm and at the hotel? No worries, they all headed to the textile mills and started to work on their American Dream. If only they knew what was going to happen to the textile industry.

So this is how I can explain to you what is going on in our country. Is globalization bad? The answer is NO, but is it good for all nations? If not the United States, then who is it good for? Answer: It is good for countries that put an emphasis on their education, who don’t care about personal rights or entitlements. Instead these countries care about their nation’s ability to keep up in a global market.

So where are the jobs coming from in the future? Good question and I don’t know. It is up to the middle class to figure out. Until then, you are just going to have to accept what is offered to you. You are going to have to work those hours you refused in the past. Every day you are going to have to find a way to deal with your pride. Look for a way to embrace your creative outlet. Maybe start a hobby, a club, adopt a pet, write a book, and/or volunteer to help others. At least when you volunteer you are able to network. Who knows… one day you may be standing beside Warren Buffet passing out soup to the homeless. I doubt it, but one can dream.

Just keep some things in mind when you are unemployed. Here are ten things to help you during the holidays.

Read books or join a book club.
Improve your resume and/or portfolio.
When you are in a room in your home, turn on the lights. This will keep you from sitting down and doing nothing.
Buy groceries once a week instead of bi-weekly and/or once a month.
Exercise, walk, ride a bike.
Limit your television time; watch only during certain times.
Go to the library; get on the computer.
Spend at least an hour a day researching new career paths.
Talk to family more frequently.
Try to understand the reality of your problems; don’t consume yourself with guilt.

Look, it is not easy to be in this situation. I know, because I am in it with you. But do what you can, in order to survive.

The holiday season is a lonely time of the year. Many people use this time of year as a way to escape with suicide. But don’t let that be you. I recently had a friend who decided to take that route. I am sad for the loss to his family and friends. But I say, be strong and fight. Let that be your legacy. Try to bring that karma back around and who knows, maybe something good will happen. So to whatever you may believe, I hope it blesses you during this time and remember that you are not alone. The only thing I can suggest is to stay informed and keep up with current events. Remember to put your career in perspective and live your life according to the way you believe is the best interest of your family. One more thing, try to get to know yourself. You may be surprise with the person you may meet.

Terrelle Pryor walks on to OSU Basketball?

iraharleman — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 13:37:12 +0000

As I was watching the OSU Game against Minnesota, I kept trying to figure out what was the problem with Ohio State, and Ohio State’s quarterback Terrelle Pryor. Even the announcers were debating the reasons why the OSU offense was stalling. Eventually OSU finally scored some points and even ended up blowing away Minnesota. Seems all is forgotten around the OSU campus because the team is back in the win column.

But for me I was not satisfied. I remember when I played high school football, our team had a superstar player named Micheal Robinson. He was huge like Terrelle Pryor, around 6′ 4′ to 6’7″. I remember Micheal was always running for his life back in the pocket because he was better than our offense line. Case in point, our team went from trying to win games to what was best for Micheal. Every play was surrounded around him. Our team focus were to do what Micheal was good at. We had some good players but we also had the realization that high school was it for all of us. So we really didn’t have the drive and determination, so our team lost every game. As a kid, I was happy to be part of a team. As an Adult I am sad that I wasn’t a part of a winning philosophy. It could be great if our coach realized that there was other great athletes on our team. We probably were never made it to the college level but at least it would have been our choice.

So in other words OSU needs to do what is truly best for the team. So as I were watching football and listening to the announcer singing praised to our quarterback, Terrelle Pryor. Then it hit me Terrelle is heading for OSU basketball, He was a high superstar on the court. He will realized that he will not make it in the professional team as a quarterback. He will not be happywith this, but his dreams of playing hoops can still come true. Maybe later he will one day join his mentor, LeBron James down the road. It makes sense that this will be the course of action. Terrelle Pryor doesn’t want to be some third string back up wide receiver running slants across the middle. He will head toward basketball eventually, Maybe he is waiting until he can win the Heisman trophy. who knows? Only Terelle does? yeah right!

Stickam to you

iraharleman — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:04:58 +0000

Recently I have visited the popular video social site which is named “Stickam“. Very similar to “Ustreamtv“. Both sites you can host your own video show, basically you have your own television show at the comforts of your own home. This is perfect for bloggers, radio host wannabes and Dee JaysYou could even do a live performance of your favorite local bands.

Great ideal right? Yeah, Slow down a minute. I have visit both sites and so far I haven’t witness any bad behavior on Ustreamtv but on the other hand with Stickam, I was amazed. I have seen nudity and public masturbation with both of the sexes. I have chatted on occasionally, surprised realizing, how many innocent children were visiting the Stickam site daily. Unsupervised children are sitting in front of their computer in the kitchen and living rooms while their families are walking in the background cleaning the house and making dinner. Meanwhile some other child are on the computer masturbating for the world to see. Look I understand the rights people have and I don’t care if you don’t care but some children are conflicted on being the person they want to be. Even though mental they are not there yet. I recently saw a couple of articles where three men were charge in different locations for trying to get some girl to show more than they should. One problem in this is that the are no age restrictions or age verification within this site. Unless she looks like she is twelve you really don’t know. Is it right to chat with anyone and try to persuade them to go topless? probably so, morally wrong, but is it illegal if the girl or boy is above a certain age? Are the victims be punish too for getting nude on camera in a public site?” are we going for the defense that “The devil made me do it”. Should we look closer at the family nucleus as a whole? Should we help parents understand the dangers of the internet? you think the parents will eventually realize that their child should not be in front of a cam with people they do not know!

Hello world!

iraharleman — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:28:19 +0000

First I grew up with an adopted family, My Aunt and Uncle. My original mother has passed away over a stroke. My father was never really in the picture. My earliest memory of my father was a fight he and my mother got into. For some reason, I was in backseat of our car at the time alone; my parents were in the front with my father driving. I don’t remember how old I was at the time. I just remember being scared and lonely. You see I have sibling and none of them were with me. Why? Still today I wonder that. My parents were arguing about something and then it became violent. My father began to beat my mother as she tried to fight back. The incident escalated and my mother had enough. I tried to help by yelling and crying. I didn’t know what to do. Then all of a sudden, my mother opens the car door and jump out. There was complete silence that filled the inside of the car. I was confused; I didn’t quite understand where my mother went to. I was scared to look out the window, I just frozen not knowing what my father would do. He continues to drive as he stared out the window. He was looking for my mother as he circled around the block. Then the car stop and he open the door. Before he departed, he stop and looked back at me and with his threatening voice told me to stay put. Then he disappears into the night. Minutes went by and I was scared that no one would come back so I stood up and saw a gathering of people by a lighted building. I wasn’t sure what was going on. I thought maybe my mother was over there. So I left the car and ran over to the crowd. I squeeze through the on lookers to find my father bend down crying with my mother. He was apologizing while he was wiping the blood away from my mother face. As I came closer, my mother saw me and reaches out for me. She was sobbing uncontrollable. I ran to her embraced and she held me for what felt like forever. The one thing I remember was the warm of that hug. It was home for me and while my head lay on my mother chest I look over toward my dad and he was staring at me. His look scared me and I knew he must have been mad at me for disobeying him for getting out of the car. I didn’t care because I felt safe in my mother arms.

My next memory of dear old dad was the whole family was driving in our station wagon. I remember vividly because as the youngest of four I got to sit by the car door. This was a treat because I always got stuck in the middle or in the back with no windows. I like sitting by the car door because I would sit out there staring in the sky while the wind would blew on my face. It was an awesome experience. So while my dad was speeding down the dirt road that headed to my cousins. I remember hearing the rocks smashing up against the bottom of the car. Then suddenly I was falling and I hit the dirt road. I didn’t realize what happen as I rolled through the cloud of dust. My body was hurting all over and after a couple of seconds I was laying in a ditch. I look up and pain surrounded me. I was hurting and bleeding. I had scratches all over me. I look toward the cloud of dust in a distant waiting for my family to stop and turned around but they didn’t. I was scared and alone, even though, I remember where I was at because I rode my bike down this rode while I was at my cousins house. I just stood there wondering if maybe they didn’t realize that I was not in the car. Then I began to walk in the direction where my cousin lived. It wasn’t easy because my knees were scraped and my legs hurt as well as every part of my body. But after awhile the pain slowly diminished, I started to walk toward the direction of my cousins house. Silence filled the air and the fields surrounding the road seem to last forever. The cows were grazing as I pass, they raised there heads staring at me for a second while chewing their food. I saw my cousins house in the distant. Then I heard the kids yelling and they were running toward me. My older brother were in the lead, which I was surprise since he was the heaviest out of the bunch. They came up to me asking if I was okay, but I was a tough little kid, I told them I was okay. My brother and my sister gave me a little hug and walk beside me. My brother kept is arm around me as we walk. I knew then I was fine because he was there. My sister stayed besides of a second and then took off running with the other girls. My brother asks me again if I was okay I look up and told him I was fine. He explained what happen to me, that apparently I didn’t shut the car door properly. He also told me that everyone was screaming at our dad to stop but he continues to drive. He told me he was glad I wasn’t injured and we continue to walk toward the back of the house. I saw my mother and she seem to let out a sign of relief. I yell toward her telling her I was alright. My brother seems to be directing me to the barn in the back where I could hear my cousins laughing and playing. As we pass the back porch I look over toward my father he was just staring at me with no emotions at all. Just a blank look while he was swinging on the porch swing. Everyone else was to be happy I was there and safe.

This is an excerpt of who I am and it all started for me. It is a foundation of the person I am today. It was the beginning of my life from past to present. This is me saying “Hello”.