#YoungMen #YoungPeople #women #minorities #AdaptingToChange #DifferencesInIncome
It’s tough to be young today.
It’s even tougher, it seems, to be a young man.
As a man, you were always taught to be a provider for your family. At the same time, there was a building movement to advance women and minorities in the work force.
Over time, young women became more educated than young men, in aggregate numbers.
As a young man with less education, your options became more limited. The strong-back, laborious jobs that once paid pretty well, were not paying well at all. On top of that, many of those jobs were being eliminated altogether because of technology.
Did it bother you, as a young man, that a woman that you might like to be with was better educated, and perhaps making more money than you? How can you “provide” for her?
Worse yet, would that well-educated woman you like even give you the time of day, because you are not as educated, and not making as much as she is?
First, the advancement of women and minorities in the work force has been a GOOD thing.
Before that, women, who were not necessarily guaranteed to find a “provider,” could not necessarily live on their own without help.
They were pigeon-holed into certain job categories with little opportunity for advancement. They were secretaries, teachers, nurses etc. Those are noble professions, to be sure, but moving up in those careers can be difficult.
If you were a woman who was able to find someone to provide for you, you may have gotten married and had children, which presented a whole new set of work-force challenges for you.
Now, the pendulum has swung a bit in the other direction, and young men, particularly those who did not go to college, are left with limited career options.
Even some with a good education may not be able to find a job that would make that education pay off. To complicate that, if you borrowed money to go to college, you may have debt that will keep you from advancing in life.
Moving back with mom and dad should only be a temporary solution. But, for more and more young men in particular, there is no other way to make it at the moment.
Apartments in New York City are going for $6,000 a month, yet are still being gobbled up. Young people have to find roommates to make it work, and, even then, they are still paying more than the 30 percent of their income that should go to housing.
Note here that certain places are more expensive to live in than others because they are more desirable. A young person on his or her own would rather be nearer a big city than a rural town, if only for the social life options.
Yes, it’s difficult to be young today, but resorting to vices – drugs, alcohol etc. – to ease your troubles is not the answer.
You may have to look harder for opportunities, but they are there. You may have to relocate to find them, but they are out there. So many employers are looking for good, hard workers. Many of them are willing to pay for the right people.
There are more opportunities to come as technology improves. (Warning: if you are in a job that will be eliminated by technology eventually, prepare for that now.)
You can’t stop the world from changing. You can’t go back to the way things were decades ago. You just have to find ways to adapt to the here and now. If you do, life, eventually, will treat you well.
Peter
Monthly Archives: July 2025
IF YOU RUN FOR PUBLIC OFFICE, WHOM DO YOU SERVE?
#officeholders #RunForOffice #RunForSomething #voters #ElectedOfficials
Many people run for public office because they want to serve the people who elect them.
They have many ideas how to improve their communities, cities, towns, states, school systems etc.
Sometimes, when they actually get into office, other influences come to the fore.
A leader who expects loyalty may emerge. As an officeholder, you may find that not working with this leader, and his or her priorities, can create a miserable life for you.
Secondly, you may not get all the funding, personnel and other assets you may need to fulfill your goals.
You have no control over how much you get, and how many people you can have.
You begin to feel that everything you want to do is in jeopardy, and your good ideas are nothing more than that – good ideas. You become discouraged.
But, you may also be motivated because a certain number of people voted for you, over others.
You can’t make excuses to them as to why you are not doing as you say.
You have to try to accomplish some of what you can, with what you are given.
You should report only to voters, not to anyone else.
If the leader asks you, or forces you, to do things your voters do not want, you should not fear him or her.
You should remember that if voters can see that you are working only for them, you should get re-elected if you choose to run again.
If the voters can’t see that you are working only for them, and the leader doesn’t like what you are doing, he or she may put up someone to run against you.
That’s when you have to realize that public office is a temporary job. You can keep it. Or, you can lose it through no fault of your own.
If you expect the job to be permanent, and leave only on your terms, you are in the wrong line of work.
You have to learn that losing an election is NOT the end of the world. Voters are fickle. The same voters who voted to elect you may decide not to vote at all. Or, they may be so influenced by the show your opponent puts on that they are persuaded to vote for that person.
As long as you believe you did everything you could, with what you had, for those who voted for you, you will sleep at night.
As a public official, you have to listen to your voters. Their opinions and stories should be instructions to you on actions you should take.
(Attention voters: Your public officials need to hear from you at all times.)
Public office is no walk in the park. It’s hard work. It requires integrity, honesty, humility and selflessness.
Those who serve in office without those attributes should not be there.
You have to listen to your voters, because you are working on THEIR behalf.
So, run for office if it suits you. Don’t run if it does not. If you serve your voters well, you are most likely to be rewarded.
Peter
Many people run for public office because they want to serve the people who elect them.
They have many ideas how to improve their communities, cities, towns, states, school systems etc.
Sometimes, when they actually get into office, other influences come to the fore.
A leader who expects loyalty may emerge. As an officeholder, you may find that not working with this leader, and his or her priorities, can create a miserable life for you.
Secondly, you may not get all the funding, personnel and other assets you may need to fulfill your goals.
You have no control over how much you get, and how many people you can have.
You begin to feel that everything you want to do is in jeopardy, and your good ideas are nothing more than that – good ideas. You become discouraged.
But, you may also be motivated because a certain number of people voted for you, over others.
You can’t make excuses to them as to why you are not doing as you say.
You have to try to accomplish some of what you can, with what you are given.
You should report only to voters, not to anyone else.
If the leader asks you, or forces you, to do things your voters do not want, you should not fear him or her.
You should remember that if voters can see that you are working only for them, you should get re-elected if you choose to run again.
If the voters can’t see that you are working only for them, and the leader doesn’t like what you are doing, he or she may put up someone to run against you.
That’s when you have to realize that public office is a temporary job. You can keep it. Or, you can lose it through no fault of your own.
If you expect the job to be permanent, and leave only on your terms, you are in the wrong line of work.
You have to learn that losing an election is NOT the end of the world. Voters are fickle. The same voters who voted to elect you may decide not to vote at all. Or, they may be so influenced by the show your opponent puts on that they are persuaded to vote for that person.
As long as you believe you did everything you could, with what you had, for those who voted for you, you will sleep at night.
As a public official, you have to listen to your voters. Their opinions and stories should be instructions to you on actions you should take.
(Attention voters: Your public officials need to hear from you at all times.)
Public office is no walk in the park. It’s hard work. It requires integrity, honesty, humility and selflessness.
Those who serve in office without those attributes should not be there.
You have to listen to your voters, because you are working on THEIR behalf.
So, run for office if it suits you. Don’t run if it does not. If you serve your voters well, you are most likely to be rewarded.
Peter