Every day I drive somewhere...and at least one corner, or traffic light, has a scruffy-looking adult sitting or standing with a cardboard sign or bucket asking for food or money. I mean these people are there for HOURS! I've dropped my kids off at school and passed by the same person on my way home from picking them up...that's EIGHT hours later! RIDICULOUS! I'm sorry...but you should be ashamed of yourself if you can sit in that same spot, with the same sign or bucket, for hours on end...day after day. If you have that much nerve to ask strangers for their money and food that THEY"VE gone out and earned...what is stopping you from WORKING towards the same goal?
It takes WORK to find a job. Instead of sitting your ass on the corner...take it to a damn library, or employment office, or church! Instead of sitting and eating for free....WORK FOR FREE and maybe in turn someone will offer you a job because they see you up and DOING SOMETHING! I had a rough year last year. I was practically jobless, but I always kept working. Some weeks I made $100...some weeks I made $10...by doing whatever I had to do to feed my kids and get them to and from school. None of the work I did was sexual...or drug related. That's another myth...that you have to work the pole or sell drugs to make it. Don't get me wrong...I thought about it...a LOT. But I knew I couldn't look at myself in the mirror if I did and I would never want that to get back to my kids when they got older. Not knockin those who choose that route...I just know it wasn't for ME. I applied to probably 100 jobs last year. I currently have a full-time career, but I still get emails and letters stating I did not get a job I applied for or that position was canceled. Some jobs I don't even remember applying for!
Even when I was broke as hell...you rarely caught me sitting around doing NOTHING...asking people for food and money. I would hustle by day...writing...working part-time jobs...teaching...anything I could do to get some money. I always went to church...regardless how depressed I was feeling. There were some days when I knew I had enough gas to get to church, but wasn't sure if I had enough gas to get home. I sold so many of my things on craigslist...I got food from my church foodbank and friends...it was probably the worst/lowest part of my life. But I never gave up. I cried many days and nights...was so stressed I couldn't sleep. I would be up til 3am reading any and every book I could get a hold of...writing articles for $10-$20 a piece...then get up at 6am to get my kids ready for their day...then I would continue job hunting...writing...teaching...whatever while they were at school...I was ALWAYS doing SOMETHING.
Bottom line...you have the choice to do nothing and get by...or do something with a sense of purpose and KNOW you're going to make it. When I see these people on the corner...I see no hope...no determination...no motivation. Hold up a sign that says "NEED JOB...WILL WORK FOR FREE" instead of "Homeless with five kids." I don't care what you have or don't have...I am more interested in what you plan to do about it...what kind of work ethic you have...how bad you want to get off that freakin corner and never go back to it. Instead of sitting outside of Walmart because so many people are passing by you...get your ass up, clean yourself up in the walmart bathroom, and talk to the manager every day until they give you a job...walk into every store and introduce yourself and say you're looking for a job...do that every day. Don't tell me your sob story...nobody wants to hear that. People want to know what you have inside of you that says you deserve a chance. It's not until AFTER you make it that people want to know your story. It is what it is.
If YOU don't believe in yourself...it's rare that anybody else will. I KNEW I was going to make it...nobody could tell me any different. I am not completely where I want to be, but I KNOW I'm going to get there. I really don't care what anybody says about me...or what they think of my past circumstances. I KNOW where I am going and that's all that matters. People have told me they could tell I was going to make it because I always had determination. I get joked a lot about making a way out of no way...working so many jobs...finding ways to call when my phone, cable and internet was shut off...the cheap meals I created but fed my kids til they were full...the tiny ass apartment I lived in at one point...but I don't care. I'd rather get joked about making a way...compared to getting joked about sitting on my ass, on a corner, looking for handouts. You will ALWAYS see me hustle.
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