Change

Cynthia Tucker has written a pretty good article on the middle-class squeeze. My mother lost her job a few months ago (it was a contract job where the contract apparently meant nothing for the employee), so both my parents have been unemployed for awhile. My dad has been taking correctional officer classes here in Texas to become a prison guard. The pay and conditions are horrible, and I'm worried about him actually doing it. However, he has to do what he has to do. He told me he knew things were really bad because he said there were so many other people there, especially above 40, who lost their jobs too and/or couldn't find any even though they have college degrees. My dad has a degree in speech and hearing, but there are guys there who have electrical engineering degrees! If that doesn't visualize the problem of outsourcing for someone I don't know what will. My dad said he feels worse for all the ex-military guys. There are a lot of marines, of course, but there's even a Navy Seal there for god sakes. How can this be? I guess what I'm trying to point is how messed up everything seems to be in our society right now. I guess that is nothing new, but I fear it's becoming more and more accepted. It shouldn't be! We can change things and we should. I wouldn't care so much about all this stuff if I didn't believe that. I'll believe it until the day I die, because I know this is wrong, and I know fighting it is right. The question is, do enough people believe that too to make a difference?