I lost my job
August 31, 2001. Best thing that ever happened to me. I have not had a ‘pay check’ since. I have been thinking about that time a lot the last few days. I’m not sure what triggered my focus on it lately but it got me to thinking about how our country seems to be divided.
Bear with me as I try and develop this thought.
I wonder what life was like at the founding of this country. I have read that no one had a job really. Everyone had a trade instead. Most were craftsmen and artists. Wheel wrights, black smiths, farmers, printers, and countless other things were done by skilled workers. The closest to a job I guess would be an apprentice who was learning a trade. I suspect there were menial jobs and maybe those building a railroad or such but that was not as common as it is today. We were fiercely independent and self sufficient.
Now, most folks have a job. A job we depend on for a paycheck. Paid vacations, holidays, expense accounts and other benefits. It’s not a gift for sure, you work hard for what you get but it comes with something I don’t have. Security.
There are some of us who don’t want a job in spite of the security. I chose owning a business instead. Helping folks buy and sell real estate and I work as an independent contractor. I only get paid when I succeed. Failure does not pay me anything. No one pays me a salary. No one pays my expenses. No one gives me a paid vacation. It’s all on me and I would not have it any other way. To me it’s freedom.
Security or Freedom.
Isn’t that one of the conversations we have today? We have traded freedom for security at TSA. I’m not sure we are any more secure but we are less free. I can’t carry a bottle of water to the plane anymore. I have to pour out what I have and get a new one if I want water on the other side of the scanners.
I have a story about 3 knives and a trip to Spain I can share sometime but that is a digression I don’t want to take right now. Let’s just say we are not safer because of TSA. I read a story of how they failed 67 out of 70 tries to detect simulated weapons and explosives. They are not really security, they are law enforcement and they are not good at it. The times they do succeed at finding something seem to be old ladies with knitting needles or the innocent youth with a ‘restricted’ key chain. Another story I can share later.
I think about anthems like “Give me Liberty or Give me Death” from Patrick Henry. Benjamin Franklin’s quote “Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one”. Thomas Jefferson said “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. it is it’s natural manure”.
Bold words. Passion for freedom, liberty. Willing to give treasure and blood to the cause. Was it such a different time back then? Was it the advent of ‘the job’ that started this transformation?
We don’t see that as much today outside of our military. Those men and women take it seriously and I thank God they do. But for them we would be speaking German and Japanese today but for us to talk about it personally can get you branded as crazy. I don’t intend to go too far down this path but my point is the passion for many is simply not there.
Perhaps the passion is there and I suspect fear is what keeps us from doing what would actually fulfill us. I know I would not have volunteered for the journey that got me from August 31, 2001 to now but I am so glad it happened. I didn’t have the choice at the time of keeping the job I had. I had to leave and I was not sure where the next money was going to come from but come it did and I learned a lot about running a business, budgets, profits and loss and doing without. It was not easy but it was worth it.
I know the economy has shifted in the last decade or so. Many are working part time who would rather have full time. Manufacturing as been taken over by machines and cheap labor overseas at the cost of quality sometimes. The cost of quality has brought some manufacturing back home too.
There are more independent contractors and self employed people, not always by choice but they are there and learning the lessons and I see them as more independent in life too. They are learning the joys of freedom and the faith it takes to succeed. To overcome the fear by faith and to keep pushing when it’s hard.
Not sure where this is going but I would love to hear your comments and perspective if you want to share. I’ll share more later this week.
Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson
678-231-1578 Cell