Out of Work

The hardest work in the world is being out of work. — Whitney Young.

I know this feeling that Young describes. I hope you never do. Unfortunately many of your friends and neighbors these days are experiencing the darkness that being unemployed brings. We as a society, a country, and as humans owe it to those who are suffering right now to help those without work to help. I read a lot about people saying that they don’t want to give people incentives not to work. Those who say such things have jobs. Talk to someone who is on food assistance and unemployment and ask them if they would swap places with someone who has a job and they would jump at the chance.

The people who are unemployed right now didn’t cause this virus. Why are we looking down our noses at those who are furloughed or laid-off and suggesting they are satisfied with less than a living wage? If we can pay farmers not to grow crops, can we not spend similar sums to create jobs and provide temporary assistance. Do we not have roads, bridges, and schoolhouses to build?

We are a better people and country than to turn our backs on our neighbors. Each of us should remember, “There but for the grace of God go I,” and do what we can.

About the author

Webb Hubbell is the former Associate Attorney General of The United States. His novels, When Men Betray, Ginger Snaps, A Game of Inches, The Eighteenth Green, and The East End are published by Beaufort Books and are available online or at your local bookstore. When Men Betray won one of the IndieFab awards for best novel in 2014. Ginger Snaps and The Eighteenth Green won the IPPY Awards Gold Medal for best suspense/thriller. His latest, “Light of Day” will be on the bookstands soon.

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