Los Angeles starts 2010 with high unemployment and scarce opportunities, approaching the starting gates on the new year facing many of the same obstacles we saw at the finish of 2009. The State of California and City of Los Angeles remain in dire budgetary straits, with services and jobs at risk. Business owners are struggling to stay in operation while workers are trying to hold on to their jobs.
The recession led folks to make adjustments in response to realities — or in anticipation of possible eventualities — all through last year.
They will continue to do so this year.
Indeed, no one believes a quick recovery is in the making. Most experts feel say that we will have to just wait and ride this one out.
That's easy for the experts to say from their ivory towers. They neither feel the destructive impact nor the resulting despair their opinions evoke.
So what should Angelenos do in light of a forecast suggesting that we are looking at another year of economic hardship?
We engage — we attack the challenge.
OK — so we were ambushed by the fallout resulting from reckless decisions motivated by unconscionable greed. Granted, some of us neglected to watch our flanks, allowing slick salesmen to penetrate our front lines of our household defense. The banks got away with a fast one, taking the bailout money while awarding the gross ineptitude of employees with bonuses. Adding insult to injury, the same banks fail to inject the economy with any of that money, refusing to make loans.
Aren't you tired of taking these shots and being told to like it?
Damn right you are!
So look at it this way: We've taken their best shots and we are still standing.
It is time for us to fight back — not so much against economists or banks but against the situation itself.
The experts do not know us. If they did, they would not sell us short. Their statistics, with all of their intricate formulas, do not factor in the most important variable — the human spirit and will.
Those are the weapons — we control those powerful X factors.
Get ready for the fight of your lives, the Battle of 2010. Bandage your wounds. Wipe away the tears. We are going to engage the enemy without any fear. And the enemy is this lagging economy that stands in the way of the security and happiness of so many of us.
Be the general of your happiness. Don't let the experts put you in a box. Garner all of your mental and emotional resources and march into your job with the formidable ammunition of confidence. Challenge yourself. Make yourself indispensable by contributing in new ways. Demonstrate your value daily.
Those who are unemployed, utilize ingenuity in your job pursuit. Distinguish yourself from others with a creative resume. Be tenacious in your pursuit. Decide to see a certain number of potential employers each day. See that plan to completion each day. You will accomplish your goal for that day — and reap the fulfillment that goes with it.
Some of us may get termination notices. Remember that you were looking for a job when you found the one you just lost. Keep looking — keep fighting. It is only a matter of time. Remain engaged — and if you are entrepreneurially inclined, remember that now could be the best time start a business. History is replete with stories of successful businesses begun during severe economic downturns. Do not let a lack of financing stop you. Many successful businesses were started in garages without a dime.
General Ulysses S. Grant was Abraham Lincoln's most trusted general, the battlefield leader responsible for victory in the Civil War. His reputation was built on constant and relentless engagement of the enemy. He sometimes lost battles but he won campaigns — and eventually won the war.
Look deep into yourself. Determine that you are the general of your own soul and engage the challenge to win this campaign.
Welcome to the Battle of 2010.
Walter Melton is a writer for the L.A. Garment & Citizen.
Photo from The Library of Congress.
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