President company excluded

The President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, came to a local middle school near us on Monday to check out the students' progress and their use of today's burgeoning technology.  It was a proud moment for our town, and the kids in the classroom enjoyed seeing him and interacting, from all accounts.

Parkville PATCH
photo

But on the Parkville-Overlea PATCH - which is an online news source that AOL recently began, and which, if your town does not have one, you should hope they do soon! - the reporter tells us that some people gathered to protest the president, which is of course their right.  I mean, you can walk around with a sign and crab about the fact that the man eats oatmeal for breakfast, if you wish, and that is your right as an American citizen, or it's your sworn task if you are a commentator on FOX news.  

But notice that one woman from 30 miles up the road in Edgewood was down here to complain about BHO's policies, because she is out of work.  She said,"I'm here because I'm unemployed.  It's unbelievable. It's his policies that I object to."

I have been unemployed in my lifetime and it was a few of the worst weeks I've ever known.  I spent that time finding another job.  Onetime movie actor Ronald Reagan was in the White House at that time, but rather than spend my time carrying signs about him, I carried my resume around and found another job.

To the lady from Edgewood: I am sorry that you are out of work.  It's not unbelievable, sad to say.  There are always people out of work, and I think that those who have jobs today should be grateful not to be in their number.  What's more, hiring in this country is done between 9 and 5, M-F, so I don't think you are working as hard as you might be toward finding more work if you're passing your Monday mornings complaining about the president. 

But...when I was teaching, years ago, a student was telling me that getting a job was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time, it's all in who knows who, and he didn't have a chance...etc etc etc.  I asked him how he spent his free time after school, and he said he mainly stayed home and watched TV.

Since you rarely, if ever, hear of people going door-to-door offering work to people otherwise engaged in watching television, sitting home on the sofa watching sitcom reruns, or marching around picketing the president, are not examples of being in the right place at the right time.  Priorities!  If you need a job, you need to be out there looking for one.  You should spend more time per week trying to find a job than you will actually be on the job once you find one! Decide what you want to be, train and get prepared for it, and knock on doors until people hire you.

After all, that's how Obama got his job!