Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/05/12

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Subject: [Leica] OT: working & earning & lifetsyle
From: photo.forrest at earthlink.net (Phil Forrest)
Date: Sun, 13 May 2012 00:51:57 -0400
References: <CBD42C32.117B5%manolito@videotron.ca> <CBD433A0.144A0%chris@chriscrawfordphoto.com> <CAH1UNJ09N4PZus=G+X75GRsrPJqBQAJFbnkXMa1vu9cAziCaag@mail.gmail.com>

Excuse me but WHO ARE YOU TO TELL ME THAT I HAVE NO INITIATIVE?! Yup
this is off topic and I've stayed out of much of the ongoing
conversation even though I know that it does concern me.
So Jayanand, we're going to have it out right here. Who are you to tell
me that I have no initiative? You know extremely little about my life
situation. You have proved several times over in past discussions that
you are not a part of the solution. You treat people such as myself as
so far beneath you because we can't break the cycle of poverty. I was
born into a not so well off family and was the first to graduate
college. The only reason I could afford to go was because I served in
the Navy for 8 years. So my family knows how bad I have it right now
and they wish they could help but they can only offer me a place to
stay if I find my way out to New Mexico.
Now lets get to that, traveling. For some reason, you and a few others
on the list think that traveling around the country or the world is
something that is afforded to everyone. Or maybe only those that "work
hard" to earn money to travel to find yet another job. Guess what? I
can't find a job AT ALL. If I were in the room with you and you spoke
those words to my face I would be using my outdoor voice, poking you
with two fingers and waiting until you cried because of your insult. I
don't get this pissed off for just anything. It takes an insult like
"you don't have any initiative" to really push my buttons.
I have worked my ass off for years since I was a teenager. First to get
a car, then to pay for college, then during 8 years in the military,
then working retail and service jobs after the military before and
during college when I finished up my degree. Now I can't even find a
lot of those old jobs anymore. Two of my old employers don't even exist.
As for your immigrant comments, I grew up around migrant workers. Many
illegal. That's what they do. They come here to the US illegally to
make money to send home. I know how hard that life is and I'd take a
job working in a field if I could but no one would hire me because I'm
an American and I can legally ask for a minimum wage. An illegal
migrant worker can't ask for anything and only gets paid on trust. Some
of my good friends to this day are currently undocumented and they work
at the whim of their employers. Maybe you should spend a few months out
in an onion field and get paid $.50/hr plus weight. 

Listen people. I am not a fan of the Occupy movement. I don't think I
deserve any more than the next guy. I DO deserve a chance but so does
the next guy. That is what is happening. Apparently I'm the only one on
this list who is in this situation but there are also a few who are
very precariously close to being right where I am. I don't have a job
at all. I don't have the money to pay rent. I can barely feed myself.
I'm trying to keep my bills paid so I can keep my security clearance
rating up in case one of my Federal applications returns a positive hit.

For all you who say that we simply need to pull up our boot straps and
get to work I say "where?" Then you tell us to move and I ask you
"how?" You have provided ignorant, insensitive solutions to a very
pressing problem. 

As for you Jayanand, I and the others who "have no initiative" deserve
an apology for your remarks because, like I said, you have no clue as
to how hard my life has been. I am looking towards the future. It is
you looking back at your Horatio Alger past that can't see the world
from where I am so far below you. It doesn't work that way anymore. If
it's so easy for you to travel, come here to Philadelphia and please,
have this discussion with me in person. I can guarantee that it will be
spirited.

My apologies to the rest of the list but he keeps poking and I'm going
to shove back. Unless he wants to give me a job or provide me with some
real ways in which I can get out of this situation, then I'm going to
keep firing back because some things said here are very low blows and
cowering behind the off topic shield just doesn't fly without a retort.

Thank you all.
Phil Forrest



On Sun, 13 May 2012 09:31:44 +0530
Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand at gmail.com> wrote:


> None of you have initiative, that is the problem, you are all mentally
> living in the past, in a world that does not exist any more. What is
> more, you take no steps to find out the actual situation prevalent
> abroad, and what it means to live there, and just feed off
> preconceived notions. As I said, learn from generations of Asians and
> Latinos who uprooted themselves from their comfort zone and emigrated
> to your country, because they were willing to slog for a better life.
> Complaining and screaming online will get you nothing but
> frustration. 

There is no way the past can be reclaimed, you have to be practical
and look to the future. There is no economic free lunch in this world
anymore....
> 
> Cheers
> Jayanand


-- 
http://philipforrestphoto.wordpress.com/
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/philforrest


Replies: Reply from john.nebel at csdco.com (John Nebel) ([Leica] OT: working & earning & lifetsyle)
In reply to: Message from manolito at videotron.ca (EPL) ([Leica] working & earning & lifetsyle)
Message from chris at chriscrawfordphoto.com (Chris Crawford) ([Leica] working & earning & lifetsyle)
Message from jayanand at gmail.com (Jayanand Govindaraj) ([Leica] working & earning & lifetsyle)