I PREDICT A RIOT...I THINK
So, The abandoned and neglected young generation so much in the press over the last couple of weeks , have gone back to being just that. They are once again relegated to the sidelines in favour of more exciting and up to date issues. We are all let off from being responsible for their situation and can go back to worrying about the housing market or some despot who stands in the way of Westernisation of the rest of the World
There will be , of course, those who championed the young before the events of last month and who still will no mater what. Stick with it, don't give up on them..seriously.
I say this because I spent part of the day with people from the other end of the spectrum of social neglect, the 50 plus. Not to be too much of a harbinger of doom people but the majority of us are closer to them than the ones who ran about the other month updating their televisions and stocking up the local Cash Converters.
My job involves making positives out of negatives. I help people to look at the situation they are in and hopefully, give them some way of seeing things in a better light. Help them feel they can do something to help themselves. It works with most but the unemployed 50 plusers are a different breed, especially the men. For the most part, closed off, impervious to changing and victims of the unspoken truth that is age discrimination, they present the biggest challenge of any delivery session I could give. They have life experience and skills. For the most part, they turn up but when they do... that's when the problems start.
They sit and look at me with that look and body posture, usually arms folded or leaning forward on the table, which radiates "I HAVE BEEN SENT HERE, WHAT IS THE POINT" like nothing else.
Then begins a battle of wills that quite frankly, beats any I've ever had against teenagers or self assured younger people that I've worked with. They interject, they talk about the past...they debate, they make me work...and I champion them for it.
The fact is this, we have more than one generation that's being ignored. We have two. The 50 plus are as much victims of our system as all the young people we were made to feel responsible for who ran about causing damage because,apparently ,they were angry. They know their age is against them and so do I. I'm aware of it every time I tell them to follow up their feedback and keep trying because, what else can I do? If I could change how it is, I would.
Being over 50 and finding yourself in the strange and unholy land of unemployment is a terrible thing, make no mistake. It's something I guarantee some of us 40 somethings will get to see.
Come the day we get there...lets get angry about it..............
So, The abandoned and neglected young generation so much in the press over the last couple of weeks , have gone back to being just that. They are once again relegated to the sidelines in favour of more exciting and up to date issues. We are all let off from being responsible for their situation and can go back to worrying about the housing market or some despot who stands in the way of Westernisation of the rest of the World
There will be , of course, those who championed the young before the events of last month and who still will no mater what. Stick with it, don't give up on them..seriously.
I say this because I spent part of the day with people from the other end of the spectrum of social neglect, the 50 plus. Not to be too much of a harbinger of doom people but the majority of us are closer to them than the ones who ran about the other month updating their televisions and stocking up the local Cash Converters.
My job involves making positives out of negatives. I help people to look at the situation they are in and hopefully, give them some way of seeing things in a better light. Help them feel they can do something to help themselves. It works with most but the unemployed 50 plusers are a different breed, especially the men. For the most part, closed off, impervious to changing and victims of the unspoken truth that is age discrimination, they present the biggest challenge of any delivery session I could give. They have life experience and skills. For the most part, they turn up but when they do... that's when the problems start.
They sit and look at me with that look and body posture, usually arms folded or leaning forward on the table, which radiates "I HAVE BEEN SENT HERE, WHAT IS THE POINT" like nothing else.
Then begins a battle of wills that quite frankly, beats any I've ever had against teenagers or self assured younger people that I've worked with. They interject, they talk about the past...they debate, they make me work...and I champion them for it.
The fact is this, we have more than one generation that's being ignored. We have two. The 50 plus are as much victims of our system as all the young people we were made to feel responsible for who ran about causing damage because,apparently ,they were angry. They know their age is against them and so do I. I'm aware of it every time I tell them to follow up their feedback and keep trying because, what else can I do? If I could change how it is, I would.
Being over 50 and finding yourself in the strange and unholy land of unemployment is a terrible thing, make no mistake. It's something I guarantee some of us 40 somethings will get to see.
Come the day we get there...lets get angry about it..............
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