Jonathan Dodd‘s latest column. Guest opinion articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the publication. Ed
I’m at a complete loss as to what to write about this week. At this exact moment I feel like I’m inside a void. This is not an unpleasant feeling, in fact it seems like it might become pleasurable if it lasts long enough to get used to.
We’re all living in challenging times. The effects of the financial ghastliness spread into all corners of our lives like a creeping tide. Plans have to be shelved, moves must wait for more propitious times, we lose hope of ever getting that promotion or better job or other cherished ambition.
What long hot summers?
I feel most sorry for the young, who have come of age since the Crash and have never known better times. They have very little chance right now of finding work or buying houses or going on holiday – all things my generation have taken for granted.
I was privileged to be around in the Sixties, and it was fantastic, like a sunny day during those long hot summers everyone remembers from their childhoods, although of course we only remember the long sunny days. After the Sixties faded away there were the Seventies, and plenty of economic trouble. Then things got better, then they got worse again. And so on, and so forth.
Ignore warning signs
I hear talk about ‘lost generations’ and I remember previous dire forecasts, and I also remember when the predicted upsurge finally arrived just about all those previously unemployed people got jobs and were able to get on with their lives.
I think economic ups and downs seem to be inevitable, and cycles of prosperity and decline are the norm rather than anything exceptional. It’s also normal for people to ignore warning signs when things are good and always expect the worst when they turn bad.
Ideas blowing in the wind
Having said that, I do believe that we’re conditioned partly by the economic conditions that pertained when we were young and emerging into the adult world. I think my annoying optimistic streak comes from the ideas that were blowing in the wind back then, in the same way that the kids turned to Punk a decade later when there was terrific unemployment, and those years probably have a continuing effect upon them. In this way, economics is like the weather.
My thoughts are turning in this direction because of my good news this week. We have had a young person living with us for some time. It has been a hard struggle for him, looking for work where there isn’t any, and not having the experience of past ups and downs to fall back on like grizzled old geezers like me. I’ve felt that age-old parental mix of emotions very strongly for some time now. I’m exhausted by the continual effort of chasing away all the dark shadows of low expectations with that foolhardy optimism.
A hard-done-by victim of the world
A while ago my young person declared that he couldn’t go on like this and really needed to get on with his life. This was a new thing, because previously he had felt solely a hard-done-by victim of the world. He then started to apply for jobs elsewhere, and was eventually offered a job on the mainland.
After many obstacles and difficulties and frights were overcome, he found himself a place to live and this week we moved him in to a room in a shared house. He’s coping magnificently with a huge variety of new experiences and responsibilities and difficulties, moving to a place he doesn’t know where he doesn’t know anyone, and next week he’ll have to turn up for his first day of training for the new job. I shudder when I think about it, so I can only guess how brave he’s being.
In the fullness of time
Of course, as I tell him, everyone has to do this, and it’s just a bit harder for him because he has to go away and it hasn’t been easy to get a job for so long. I do remember what it was like for me, and I’m proud of him, mostly because he really did it all himself. I’m sure he’ll be successful in his life, and I feel that he’s going to become a fulfilled and happy person in the fullness of time.
So my message here is that even in difficult times there’s always tomorrow, which may be easier or sunnier than today. You can’t take the promise of tomorrow away, even though some of those tomorrows might turn out to be terrible.
Remember to breathe, and try not to jiggle
In the meantime, I wish you all good fortune. There will be an upturn, things will get better, they always do. That void I feel right now is a mixture of jubilation that my particular young person is launching himself out into the world at last, pleasure because we can get our lives back, and an unaccountable sadness because, despite everything, I shall miss him.
While you’re waiting, remember to breathe, and try not to jiggle.
If you have been, thank you for reading this.
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