The Obvious Solution

The other morning, I was listening to the radio when the disc jockey stated that a high percentage of unemployed develop a depression within six months of losing their jobs.

Taking it a step further, the DJ asked his audience to call in with "advice" on how to get those unemployed. Many callers chimed in their two cents, but for the most part, their "advice" was for the unemployed to take a job, any job, to combat those No Job blues.

"It'll give you purpose," one caller said. "Something to wake up to every morning."

In other words, Cowboy Up. (Sorry for the not-so-obvious pun. But it was a country station I was listening to).

Could the solution really be that obvious? True, if you are collecting unemployment insurance, you are able to make 50 percent of your weekly allowance before dollars are deducted from your total. And granted, any responsibility, paid or volunteer, would help to get one's mind off the focus of losing a job.

Columns, news articles and television broadcasts seem to talk at you. The anchors, writers and disc jockeys who give us up-t0-the-minute coverage of The Great Recession ARE employed. These people have jobs to go to every mornning.

Is it hard to relate to someone who has a job? What if he/she gives you some sort of token quote like, "It'll only get better from here" or "Just have a little faith?" Or does that just discourage you more?