Back in late 2009 I found myself at a major crossroads in my life. For nearly 15 years I had worked as an electrician in one of the most exciting places to work in the country, Las Vegas. As a union electrician I made great money. As a foreman my pay was even more impressive, so I never really worried about the day when I would find myself out of work but out of work I was and just before Thanksgiving.
January of this year Linda, my wife and I had started a conversation on how we would earn a living in the coming years. It was that time of year when we would plan out what the remainder of the year would look like and this was the same as any other year save for this one area. The economic climate of our country was forcing employers to layoff hundreds of workers on a weekly basis. My job had been secure for the past 13 years but this year things seemed different. Was my job the next one headed for the chopping blocks?
Now it was November and I had to layoff at least 20 guys during the year. Each time I would encourage my employees that there was a bright spot in the lining of this dark cloud. Easy for me to say, I still had plenty of money coming in and since I was the foreman, I was a valued employee. Or at least I thought so.
My advice to everyone was the same. This economy was going to be a good thing because it was going to force everyone to change their tactics on how they would earn their own money. This was a boon and not a tragic thing. I kept telling this to each and every person I fired and all the while I was preparing myself for my own prophetic utterances.
It was now November and the chopping block had come round to me. That last paycheck was a bitter sweet ending to a long uninterrupted run of work. Now I was looking in on the playground as all the other kids were playing. This would prove to be the turning point in my life and business career.
The first thing I did when I was told that this was the end, I cheered albeit on the inside. I hated my work surroundings. There were issues at every turn and as a person of faith I was fed up with the climate. I needed to be my own boss and that meant I had to start my own thing or go crazy.
For the next few months I had to really take a crash course in business and self-sufficiency. Up to that point I had always been taught to look for an employer that would take care of my every need. He would find the work for me and all I had to do was show up in the morning. Do what he said to do and hope that at the end of the week the paycheck would clear and that my work was adequate enough for him to ask me back for another week. What a load of stuff.
Like most of us I had fallen into the trap of trading my freedom for security. Was I truly secure? I think not. I was in fear of losing my job each and every week. My security was dependent on the good intensions of my boss. If he didn't like me that week then I could very well find myself in the unemployment line. That, isn't security, it is the purest form of insecurity.
In America we have been duped into believing that this kind of lifestyle is the way things are supposed to be. This wasn't the way our grandparents grew up. Even my mother grew up on a farm where they grew their own food, they got up when they needed to and worked for their own sustainance. What happened to us as a people that now clearly the trend had shifted from a farm to a factory?
In a spiritual world we would call this shift, a poverty mentality. A spirit of poverty had decended on our nation. This spirit tricked us into believing that it was better to have someone else take care of you. At first it was a subtle shift. A few people would decide to work for others. It was only a few people. They were factory workers, or line people. It was only a few people. There were plenty farmers working their own land. A hearty breed was still out there so no one blinked when the first 100 or 1000 or so left the farm for the factory. This shift was only a drip in the flood that was soon to follow.
By the late 1800 and into the early 1900's the industrial revolution in America was ramping up. The farmer had left HIS land and gone to the cities. The Great Depression had forced people to forget about the land and now they were flocking to Egypt. Reminders of the OT book of Genesis. Dustbowls, boilweevils, famine, they all pushed and solidified the poverty mentality in its place.
The natural outcome would be ingrained in American culture for the next 80+ years, until the Great Depression of 2009. In this year Americans, the new breed, decided to go back to what worked before the Industrial Revolution. It was time for us to through off the weight of the Poverty Mentality. It had clung to our necks for far too long and now we were on a weight loss program of epic proportions.
In my own life, we are experiencing this same revolution. I have never been a business person but now I find myself being repulsed by the thought of ever working for another person again. I have lost some major weight (poverty mentality) and I don't want to go back to that cookie store and get fat again.
I believe that I am not alone in my quest to shed myself of these ugly pounds. They have literally killed generations before me and I will not allow it to happen to me also.
No comments:
Post a Comment