Grasshoppers and Ants

My trusty Tracker was coated in a layer of feathery, fine snow this morning, so powder dry that I was able to forgo the ice scraper and sweep the windshield with the wipers.  With the first swipe, the snow flew into the air in an explosion of glitter crystals. Breathtaking. It was slow going over the snowy pass, but I took my time and made it in without incident.  Just another hair-raising morning commute to work. Hi ho, hi ho.

Would that my office afforded such random acts of senseless beauty as glitter crystals, but alas, it was never thus. I’m mired in the metaphorical mud at the art factory, engaged in a long slog with no end in sight.  I know, I know, I should be grateful to have a job.  But, I must say, I’m tired of being grateful for a job that I don't love.  Is it evil to admit that I’m deeply jealous of my unemployed brothers and sisters? 

I’m sure the experience of unemployment is much less satisfying in practice than in theory.  It’s interesting to see how different people react. One unemployed person I know treats his job search like a full-time job.  He’s at it every day, making calls, searching sites, networking with others in his field, researching possibilities for advanced training. In the few months he has been unemployed he has already had several interviews.  In the meantime he stretches every dollar until the eagle screams.  His unemployment benefit is a fraction of his former salary, but he manages to live on it gracefully, if carefully. He’s a poster child for why the Democrats extended unemployment benefits.  He is inspiring.

Another person I know has been unemployed for a couple of years now and appears to have done nothing about it. He worked the system for as long as he could while making no attempt to find work or improve his skills.  All the while, he was living way beyond his means. Now his benefits have run out, his savings are gone and he has nothing to show for it.  He received benefits for two years, made no effort to improve his situation, and now he wants to play the victim. He’s the poster child for why the Republicans didn’t want to extend unemployment benefits.  It’s – pick your adjective - depressing? Infuriating? 

If we as a country are going to talk about the unemployed, we have to talk about them accurately and unemotionally. In my experience, most of the unemployed fall into the first camp. They deserve our full-hearted support.  But have to acknowledge the minority personified by bachelor number two.  They are the grasshoppers who sing while we ants toil.  It’s very hard to summon any compassion for them, particularly since they tend to tar all of the unemployed with their slacker brush.

If I had two years of unemployment benefits stretched out before me, I’d like to believe that I’d go back to school and reinvent myself one more time.  I'd like to believe that I'd use it as an opportunity to improve my life.  But, who knows?  Maybe I’d spend my days reading and watching TV.  Maybe I’d drain my bank account and sponge off Sequoia. 

I’ll tell you this: I’d love to have the opportunity to find out.  Unfortunately, I don’t foresee being laid off any time soon. In a company full of net expense-generators, I'm one of the few net income-generators. If only I weren’t so damn valuable J