We have been institutionalized, as well as our kids, to want to be successful. Great. To do this we were told to go to college, get a good job, and make a decent living for the rest of our lives. Don’t misunderstand, education is very important but to only have education is kind of one sided and putting us at a disadvantage. In addition to those degrees we should also have a trade to “fall back on.” Our parents always said that we should get a degree to fall back on but what if the degree is all you have? think about it. How many unemployed barbers or handymen do you know? None. Okay so now how many unemployed lawyers and other professionals do you know? Plenty.
Here’s an example of what I mean when I say we should teach our kids and ourselves a skill to fall back on. I used to work for a company called AIG. Well, through some bad financial mismanagement they were forced to sell off and close a number of locations and subsidiary companies. I was one of the ones let go. Now, while I was there I worked with people that had been in this field for 10,15, even 20-25 years. Our division was Huge. I mean Huge! There was at least 200 people in our division altogether and at least 75-80 people in my sector alone. Now all of these people are unemployed. they all have the same skill set and are now added to the job hunting pool. The ones that had a skill like handy work, cutting or doing hair or some other skill set were still able to pay the mortgage every month, while they continued to search for work, because they were equipped with a different service oriented skill. This happened to my neighbor 2 doors down. He was an accountant for some large firm that shut down, but since he had a secondary skill of plumbing and electrical work he made more than $300,000 last year. The most he made in his 15 years as an accountant was $95,000. You do the math.
Again, not to say that anything is wrong with educating ourselves and our children for the corporate world but I think that only preparing them for the corporate world is one sided. If we lose our job, it can take from 3-6 months before we can find something else. How are you going to provide for yourself and your family during this time if you don’t have a survivable skill to fall back on until you can get to the interview for that next corporate job? In this economy and era we must have some other way of supporting ourselves. Don’t be one sided and be at the disadvantage of being stuck in a job without any other survivable skill sets.
If carpentry was a good enough back up plan for Jesus then why not our children or us? I’m just sayin’…
That’s just my thought.
Sincere
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