I felt like I just had to get away from things for awhile.  I found myself driving down to Florida.  I don’t know why I decided to take this journey, however here I am, travelling south on a four lane highway.  I noticed the speed limit was 65 MPH.  When I travel unfamiliar roads I always make it a point not to exceed the posted speed limit.  However there was something strange going on.  I glanced at my speedometer.  I was going exactly 65 MPH.  I was in the left lane and all the other cars were driving much slower.  “Why is everyone driving at least 20 MPH slower than I am?” I thought as I them.

   It was at that point I noticed a police car on my tail.  His sirens started blaring and I moved to the right lane. The policeman signaled me to pull over.  Why was he pulling me over?  Was I doing anything wrong?  I slowly moved my car off to the side of the road and shifted the car into park.  As the policeman asked for my license and registration, I asked him if there was any problem.

  “Didn’t you see how fast you were going?” the officer asked in a demanding tone.

  “Officer, the posted speed limit is 65MPH.  That’s how fast I was going”, I responded

  “Hmm”, responded the officer, “I can see that you are not from these parts. In this town when the posted speed limit is 65, it really means you should be driving 45MPH.  The way I see it, you’ve been driving at least 20 miles an hour faster than the speed limit!”

  “That’s crazy”, I responded, “If the posted speed limit is 65, how could you know that you really have to drive much slower?”

  “The law is the law” responded the officer, “You are under arrest for speeding and reckless endangerment!”  I started to respond, when I heard the sound of bells ringing all around.  The sound was deafening.

    I woke up to find that the noise I was hearing was actually the sound of the telephone ringing.  I came to my senses quickly.  According to the caller ID it was Alan, who is a close friend and one of my network contacts.  I picked up the phone.  I have never liked early morning phone calls, especially on a Saturday.

   “Alan, its 7AM in the morning and it’s Saturday!  Why are you calling me at this hour?”

   Alan’s response was quick and to the point.  “Howard, where have you been?”

  “The same place I’ve always been”, I responded.  It’s been a busy workweek and I am trying to catch up on some sleep!”

  “That’s not what I meant”, responded Alan. “It’s been over two months and you haven’t written a thing for 405?  What is going on with that?”

   Now he had me thinking. “Listen Alan, I’ve been working now for over a year and a half.  Being unemployed was awful.  I was concerned about making ends meet.  I was trying my best to find another job, and that effort took the better part of a year; but since I’ve been working it’s difficult to look at things the way I did while I was in between jobs. Right now there are other causes I want to undertake.”

  “Howard, haven’t you read the newspapers?  Unemployment is on the rise again.  More people are losing their jobs, and they need help!  At the very least they need to hear from someone who understands what they are going through.  I know you are involved with other issues, but you cannot stop writing now!”

   I promised Alan that I would do my best to come up with an idea and post it.  I tried to fall asleep again but I couldn’t.  I took out my laptop and started typing.

   Being between jobs seems like a distant memory now.  I remember the first day at work at my new position.  It was still the height of the recession.  The drive to my new workplace took about 35 minutes, and the roads were fairly empty.  When the workday was finished, I easily navigated my way out of the industrial park.  As the months went on I noticed the flow of traffic getting heavier.  The drive that once took less than forty minutes each way was now taking an hour or longer.  Some people might complain about the delay, but I looked at it differently.  I viewed it as a positive sign; more people were getting back to work, so it made sense that there would be more traffic and the trip back and forth would be longer.

   It would seem that life is getting back to normal and that the great recession would soon be an unpleasant page in the history of the 21^st century.  I felt otherwise, however, when I read the morning newspaper.  On the front page the headline was “Unemployment rises again…new claims increase!”  According to one newspaper the unemployment rate increased to 9.2%.  While this is an improvement over the 10.2% I experienced during my job search, it is still way too high.

   Then I thought about the dream that I just had.   Maybe it was my subconscious mind telling me how easily we can misinterpret ourselves into a false sense of security.   Some of us may think the great recession is over; however we may just be misreading the signs. Truth be told, job loss should not remain a distant memory.  It is an omnipresent issue.  One misconception, one lost contract, or one poorly executed decision could trigger another wave of lost jobs.  Perhaps my interpretation of the speed limit sign is a warning of how easily we could find ourselves back on the unemployment line. 

   One can only hope that we can find a way to help those who are out of work, find their way back to steady, full time employment.

-Howard K. Young