Summer Winds Down

I have completely ignored this blog during the summer. My daughter has finally come to Ohio and is settling in. This week we were getting her classes for school situated and doing her new student orientation. It is hard to believe that the first day of classes for her is next week. To say that the high school has some rather interesting classes that were not available in my day. She is wanting to get into computer engineering and such and this school has the path to get her started on. It will be challenging but that is what my daughter needs in order to keep her interest focused. In many respects, she is like me. I get bored, I ignore the homework and wind up failing.

As for other things, well, got resume together and starting to look for another job. My current one isn’t enough in pay or promotion potential. More like, I have the confidences of people that I can move onto the manager track but I am being blocked by the regional supervisor. So, if I can’t move up, I’m going to move out. I need something that is going to pay better for all the work I do and the experience I have. Thing is with searching for a job that isn’t retail is to find a place that will look at your experience without the degree to back it up. I don’t have my degree as I moved too much and then was raising the family. Then it came to having to work in order to pay the bills. I have a friend who has the opposite end of the problem that is rampant in our society is that she has the degree but not enough work experience. I like to know just how are people to get into their career field without experience once graduating from a college? It is depressing and disheartening.

Now for current events….I live in Dayton and it has made national news because of a young man decided to go on a shooting spree in the Oregon District. The Oregon District is a revamped part of downtown that has shops, restaurants, and bars, to entice the younger, social people to gather and spend money. Several cities have these type of areas. Anyway, my younger friend knew the man and so this hit close to home for her. Again, this is where our society has failed to take action for this young man. Many outspoken people on social media want to cry out for justice against privileged white males, calling them terrorists, or want further gun control. Come on, this is not a political issue and not a racial issue either. This is a people issue. Mass shootings happen and it is not strictly done by one particular ethnic group or economic background. Everyone wants to blame something instead of looking at themselves for the real problem. We failed this young man for not taking action on noted behavior that was exhibited. This is the case is most of these shootings. It isn’t guns, violent games, or whatever else’s fault. Those are things, objects, something for someone to throw blame on instead of taking responsibility.

I grew up to make my own decisions in life and whatever the outcome was, to take responsibility. My children are raised that way too. Also, was raised to do my research, to look at all angles of a story before I go throwing blame one way or another. My parents were busy being in the military and many times they had to take odd shifts but they still were there to talk to or discipline. Many families nowadays do not want to take responsibility for their errant children. They hope that if they ignore any issues, it will go away. Children look to us parents for guidance and support. They also need to guidance from teachers and other influencing adults in their life. This young man who did the shooting in Dayton was troubled, but very much aware of what he was doing. Like many that go down a violent path, a lot of his behavior was shoved away and not dealt with. This is a problem with our society. It is easy to lay blame but not take responsibility or come forward to help.

Just like trying to get into a better job with no secondary degree, but having the experience, there is a society here in the US that does it’s best to keep people down. The vicious cycle of must-have-degree-to-get-job-but-must-have-experience. All these things are not political, racial, or economic, but society and that society is definitely broken up into classes of people. I’m in the mid-range of struggling poor but I have far more dignity, class, and integrity, than those that make 6-figures. People that are problematic need to dealt with when you see signs that could lead down to a catastrophic end. We too often ignore the needs of others because of being self-absorbed with our own lives. We need to stop looking at one person as a whole group. Individuals take actions that lead to calamity. It is not a reflection of a whole group.