Happy Birthday America! Tomorrow our country turns 232 years old and how are we celebrating?
Let’s see – nonfarm payrolls fell by 62,000 jobs. Unemployment held at 5.5%. Prices are up. Spending is down. Oil hit another record high. Stocks stumbled to a real low. Housing market – bad. Credit industry – worse. American car companies – doomed?
To put it in terms of sparklers, Fourth of July 2008 is seeing more fired than work.
Not surprisingly, the number of companies that are hiring college graduates this summer is down 17% from last year. A statistic like that could lead to depression, anger and stress. To put it in terms of patriotism – down with the blues, a face burning red, and hair turned white.
But there is a surprising stat or two – nonprofit organizations saw big jumps in their applications from college graduates: Teach for America went up 36%, Harvard’s WorldTeach up 33%, The Peace Corps up 16%, and Jesuit Volunteer Corps up 14%.
Oh say can you see the altruism? This wasn’t some last resort for kids wanting to bypass a bad job market with a two year free ride and travel perk. Today’s graduates really do want to help underprivileged communities and change the world for the better.
America is the land of opportunity. The streets might not be paved with gold but we have our freedom of choice. It’s the freedom to sit on the couch in our parents’ basement with a bag of generic brand cheese balls and blame unemployment on a bad economy. And it’s also the freedom to go out and share our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness with those less fortunate.
Let’s celebrate that a large portion of our generation is choosing the latter. 232 might just be a great year for all of US.
Inspired by “Payrolls Shrank Again in June; Jobless Rate Steady at 5.5%.” By Jeff Bater. The Wall Street Journal. July 3, 2008.
Inspired by “Altruism Meets a Weak Job Market.” By Anne Marie Chaker. The Wall Street Journal. July 3, 2008.
Inspired by “Dow Falls 166.75 to Bear-Market Level As Investors Focus on GM, Oil Record.” By Peter A. McKay. The Wall Street Journal. July 3, 2008.
Soooo that was depressing. We’re basically all doomed (for the time being at least). Why watch the news? Its just a constant reminder that everyone is getting laid off, I can’t afford to keep gas in my car and everything that I want to buy is now too expensive for my ever decreasing spending budget. No wonder I watch so much crappy reality TV. I have been forced to live my life vicariously through the girls on The Hills. To me the Real World is nothing more than “seven strangers picked to live in a house and have their lives taped.” It seems to me that eveything needs to be fixed. No wonder the new wave of graduates have started moving towards giving back to the community. I have five friends who recently joined Teach for America and many more who are seriously considering the same thing. I mean has there really been any better time than now to give back? America is in such a crisis that even the smallest contributions to the community can make a huge difference.
I like the optimism of this story. The world seems to be doing terrible as a whole but we are still trying to make a change. People can blame a variety of people and circumstances for the way the world is. When you get done, you still have the problem in front of you. An old friend of mine use to have this sign on her door that said “count your blessings, not your worries.” I leave Baltimore City five days a week and I take Central ave to get to 83. I always pass the less fortunate lined up outside a shelter for a hot meal. I cannot help but realize that no matter how bad you may think you have it, someone else has it worse. I become humbled when the only thing I am worried about is traffic, and the less fortunate are worried about getting a meal and a place to stay for the night. Count your blessings, not your worries!