Wednesday, July 22, 2009

unemployed or underemployed?

it's been awhile.
i graduated in may and have been basking in the rays of unemployment for about 2 months now. this was fantastic to begin with, but i'm getting to the point where i'm realizing i forgot to put sunblock on and am going to pay for this later.

this is such a strange time in life, and i am so frustrated at our country and culture for not understanding and nurturing that. twenty somethings everywhere who just finished undergrad and are wondering where the hell they fit in the world are being met not only with countless boxes of expectations, these boxes have fixed boundaries and sharp corners that easily break the skin. additionally, many of these boxes have doors that are closed, and no one is going to answer the door to some confused, scared kid with a shrived resume in hand and countless 'rejection' signs on their forehead. and this isn't just the corporate world, non-profits, entry level internships, and even restaurants are giving off such a 'holier than thou' attitude that you would think these people actually liked their jobs!

this can't just be the economy.
this can't just be the times.

this 'dog eat dog' mentality has taken over our minds. our country has embraced competition so much that none of us have time to even listen to what anyone else has to offer anymore. we are fish on dry land too stupid to open our eyes and see that our neighbor has found a way to jump back in the water and take a deep breath.
and this is happening on so many levels that we can't even take it all in. be it over-emphasized, structured corporate rules, incompetent co-workers, and pretentious art and music critics, there is so much negativity and rejection that we are forgetting as a society how to allow new thoughts and people into our lives...unless, of course, this comes in the form of a perez hilton approved trend or a fad turned reality show. the process of creativity is being forgotten and 'unique' is a word being muffled out by starbucks steaming milk for your non-fat, no foam, vanilla latte with an extra shot. when the rock and rollers, indie-rockers, free loving hippies and conscious hip-hoppers are even turning up their noses to the sight of me bobbing my head to a band they like, where the hell am i supposed to dance?

do i sell my soul to the nine to five's or do take a giant step back and color outside the lines in hopes of pissing off the teacher, and letting the other kids know there are hundreds of other colors they could be drawing with?

i did always want to take the crayola challenge as a kid....