#suicide #SuicidePrevention #SuicideAmongMen #AspenColorado
He was a reliable family guy with a big laugh.
He was white, hard-working and middle-aged.
It may have been the American Dream that caused him to commit suicide.
So writes Randy Essex, senior news director at the Detroit Free Press. His column on the matter also appeared April 16, 2019, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“I’ve known a handful of men over the years who took their own lives. I’m in the prime demographic myself,” Essex writes. “And, I spent three years as an editor near Aspen, Colo., — as strange as it may seem, an area plagued by suicide,” he continues.
“The (ski) season goes by and people think, ‘I didn’t meet the girl of my dreams. I got laid off. I don’t have any more money,” writes Essex, talking about the glamour of living in a vacation paradise.
Not everyone gets the opportunity to be whatever he or she wants, Essex says. White men already born with advantages, feel the unspoken words: “If you can’t make it, it’s your fault and you are a failure,” he writes.
Suicide rates have been rising not only in the general population, but also among troops after deployment.
Some of the men Essex talks about did have it good at one time. The Great Recession changed that for good.
Now, all men and women are faced with going to a job and not knowing what surprise announcement might await them.
After all, no one tells you it’s coming until the day it arrives.
In today’s world, companies have to be nimble. They have to adjust to change quickly. What was a hot seller for years is no longer. What used to be done by five people is now done by one, thanks to technological advances.
In previous generations, such progress was much slower. In some cases, unions had the power to slow progress and prevent efficiencies.
Those days are gone forever. What faces many people, particularly middle-aged people or older, is the horror of losing a job that had been good to them for a long time, and getting a job that probably pays a good deal less.
There’s talk of getting retrained, but those in the middle-to-end of their careers have a decision: do I spend the time getting retrained, only to buy a couple more years of work? Or, do I spend the time getting retrained to do job X, only to find that by the time I get started with it, a different skill from the one I learned is needed.
There is good news here. Yes, one does not have to kill himself. Instead, he or she can spend a few part-time, off-work hours a week doing something completely different — something that can not only augment income, but perhaps surpass any income a job could provide.
The key is being open to looking at one of the many vehicles that would allow a person to do that. If you have thoughts about doing something different, and want to check out one of the best such vehicles, message me.
If you find yourself wanting to commit suicide, stop. Call the Suicide Lifeline included in Essex column. The number is 800-273-TALK (8255).
Your family and friends still love you, no matter how desperate you feel your circumstances make you. Instead, look ahead to a bright future by looking at something different.
Peter
Tag Archives: retraining
MANUFACTURING SHIFTS AND LOST JOBS
#manufacturing #GeneralMotors #PlantClosings #Lordstown
All signs point to a booming economy and job market, but folks in Lordstown, Ohio, are not seeing it.
General Motors is closing its plant there. Workers have a decision: move to another part of the country that has more jobs, or retrain and change careers.
In May 2019, GM sold the Lordstown plant to a company that will make electric trucks.
Heather Long wrote an article for the Washington Post about what’s happening in Lordstown. The article was also published March 9, 2019, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Many workers are opting to go to other GM plants around the country. Others don’t want to leave the place they call home, where their children and extended family are, Long writes.
Perhaps some will get jobs at the new truck plant.
The workers qualify for the federal government’s marquee retraining program, Trade Adjustment Assistance, that covers cost of retraining classes up to two years, plus a weekly stipend to attend them, Long writes. About 30 percent of the workers have signed up for TAA, she says.
Still, many workers say they are too old to go back to school, or that they tried, but found the classes overwhelming, Long writes.
The Greater Youngstown area, where Lordstown is located, is among many urban settings, mostly in the Rust Belt, that are continuing to lose relatively well-paying manufacturing jobs, Long writes.
In this case, the Lordstown plant produced the compact Chevy Cruze, while the bulk of the U.S. car market is dominated by trucks and sport-utility vehicles.
The Lordstown example is one of many in which good-paying jobs, for the least educated, are disappearing, and unlikely to return.
If you are among this group of workers, you can’t be assured that your job will be there for you for as long as you want. Progress in automation, though good overall for manufacturing and commerce, is your personal enemy.
So what do you do? First, you have to think about a Plan B. That is, a way to make an income when your job goes away. Second W-2 jobs may not be the best answer.
However, there are many vehicles out there that allow you to make a potential income that could eventually dwarf your current one, by simply spending a few, part-time hours a week of your off-work time. It doesn’t matter your age, background or skill level. To check out one of the best such vehicles, message me.
As for the Lordstown GM workers, and others in a similar position, your workplace options are few, and mostly not good. You have to think about doing something different.
Waiting for the plant to reopen is futile. If re-education in manufacturing is difficult or impossible for you, try getting re-educated in something a little less taxing. Unless you are really willing to go out of your comfort zone, you may even have to figure out how to cobble together an income from jobs that will certainly pay you less per hour than you were making.
We all can feel bad for these workers, though many of us have seen this coming for a long time. It would have been easier had they thought about a Plan B years ago.
Alas, that is not reality. We, as workers, can’t stop progress in manufacturing. Companies have to look hard at cutting costs, and becoming nimble as markets for products change quickly. Some workers will suffer as a result, but those workers have to figure out how to solve that problem on their own, taking advantage of any available help.
Many say the U.S. doesn’t make things anymore. Well, it does, but with many fewer people.
Peter