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InLovingMemory 4 - 28 Mar 2012 - Main.LissetteDuran
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| | In Loving Memory
I walked into Print Services in the basement of Columbia’s Journalism School to see my dad, as I usually do after classes and before going home. Instead of the usual cheerful dispositions, I was met with a melancholy so overwhelming that, without reason, my eyes watered. I asked what had happened. My dad replied: “He said he was stressed but no one listened. John died this morning.” | | | I was awestruck when people met Eben’s discussion of fear about job security with confusion and unfamiliarity. Since I can remember, that fear has always been part of our family. The knowledge that you can be fired at any moment for any reason limits your ability to progress and stresses the confines of your sanity. There is no room for creativity or exploration if one move outside of the “norm” rocks the already fragile swaying boat that is your employment status. You cannot take risks or learn to be efficient if your job is to stay employed. This fear breaks people and I have seen it. | |
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< | My dad used to tell me to not stress too much. His reasoning was always this: “I’m poor and if you die, I only get three days and then I have to go back to work.” | >
> | My dad used to tell me to not stress too much. His reasoning was always (jokingly) this: “I’m poor and if you die, I only get three days and then I have to go back to work.” | | | Well John died and the Print Services crew is not allowed to take an hour off to go to his funeral. | | | Based off of the opinions vocalized in class, it seemed that although many would agree that loosing one's job is unfortunate, many people also felt that they were immune to the fear. Perhaps it is a sign of the times we are living in, but I have yet to work in any field where this fear did not exist. Often working is not about who produces the best work product, it's about your connections. Who an individual connects with, who an individual knows, or (in a firm) who the partner and senior associates would want to have a drink with are often the ones that advance or are able to keep their position. | |
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< | It is not always the case that those who are employed are employed because they are smarter or perform better. Too often it is just luck. Promotions, bonuses, and simply being able to keep your job can work against this rational. Until society realizes that we are all susceptible to the fear, we will continue to have an employment sector where workers can be devalued, overworked, and silenced. | >
> | It is not always the case that those who are employed are employed because they are smarter or perform better. Too often it is just luck. Promotions, bonuses, and simply being able to keep your job can work against this rationale. Until society realizes that we are all susceptible to the fear, we will continue to have an employment sector where workers can be devalued, overworked, and silenced. | | | -- AbiolaFasehun - 27 Mar 2012 | |
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> | Abiola,
Thank you. I really appreciate it.
I definitely understand your analogy now. I think you make a really interesting distinction--there is a difference acknowledgement and feeling. I agree with you that people should realize that they are never really far from "the fear." However this realization does not necessarily have to come from their integration into the workforce. My acknowledgement of this fear came way before I had my first job. Yet, I agree that to feel this fear people do have to experience it for themselves. This is a problem in itself because we go back to this underlying theme in most (if not all) of our readings of getting involved even if it is of no consequence (or ill consequence) to our pockets. This would mean that for any real change or acknowledgement "the right" or the "right number" of people need to feel it. Since the majority of the wealth is held by a small number, which means that the power in this capitalistic society is held by a small number, I doubt that "the right" people will be feeling it soon.
The way you analyze fear is also very intriguing. I think if you highlight fear in this way--the "not about what you do but who you know" factor--the discussion becomes more relevant to law school students. I think that people were lying when they said they were immune to the fear. I saw the beginnings of that fear at the few law firm events I attended. I watched as students frantically and awkwardly tried to engage people they thought were the most important in the room--looking for that who they could drop during OCI. Now if we could only acknowledge that this fear is only a raindrop in an ocean of real fears, we would be getting somewhere. |
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