8-4-22
Dear God:
Why do humans have such an obsession over jobs? Everyone's life here on earth is based upon "what they do" and not "who they are." Additionally, if what you "do" is not worthy enough to be considered a real "job" in this society, then you are shunned.
I know You couldn't care less about jobs and did not create us to be worker bees or mindless machines and nothing else. I know You want us to live our lives in who we are, since we are not taking our jobs to the great beyond. So then why do I still have this nagging feeling that I'm a slacker and a loser in society because I don't currently have a real "job?"
You know that for the past year I am caregiver to my disabled mom, and You know that the world does not consider this a real "job." Most caregivers to relatives are considered losers who cannot get real jobs. Most caregivers who spend years and sometimes decades caring for someone else, outside of the traditional "medical field," will be considered "gapped" and unemployable for any new job in the future. The skills, work and empathy independent caregivers have gained in their non-real "job" are not transferrable to the real world and real "jobs."
The same thing happens to parents who do the work of staying home and raising children. Society does not consider this a real "job" with no skills or work experience obtained at all. Caring for the young and the old in this world are career-killing activities. The world says so. I wish it wasn't.
I remember when I had a real "job" last year before I quit for refusing the poison shots. At that time I was a caregiver for my mom on a part-time basis. I remember thinking most days that the tasks I did for my mom felt so much more important than the tasks I did at my real "job." So in losing my real job, I only really lost money, society's esteem, and any future chance of getting another real "job" in the future. I have lost everything that matters to this world. But I have gained everything that matters to You and the next world.
I know Jesus never really had a real "job" and was homeless for all of his ministry. If Jesus had lived to a ripe old age, he would have been "gapped" out of ever getting a real "job" again, since he was a caregiver, and took care of everybody for three years. It wasn't a "real" job according to society. But Jesus did exactly what we should be doing and You took care of Him.
Please Lord, help the caregivers, stay-at-home parents and all those people doing "jobs" society doesn't consider "real" but in reality are the only jobs that matter. Give them strength and blessings to continue their good works. Show the world that charity is the only job description worth having on a resume.
Sincerely,
Napoleon
Wow. My friend jacquelyn, a reader of this page, showed me this post...
I'm a caregiver, too. You have eloquently described what surely millions of us feel, at least in our culture of human degradation... When the elders are thrown away, put on shelves, and otherwise vanished in plain sight, then what of caregivers? We, too, are shelved. We are told we are unworthy of respect. I refuse to allow my spirit to ever believe this, and I hope you will be strong and do the same!
"Can't you find a real job?" I actually had someone ask me that once. And less horrible, but similar questions, from family members of the elders I cared for. Now it's got to the place where my two brothers are trying to keep me out of caregiving for my parents, something I gave up my "real job" to do, and moved away from my friends and connections of 25 years to do, because they don't want me to be PAID to do it. It's THEIR inheritance, and they don't think it should be wasted. They have taken me to court and smeared my name in the Public Record as being untrustworthy and scheming. One has said to my face that my eight years as a caregiver was pretty much just "sitting around in people's houses."
And I can't just leave. I can't leave my vulnerable parents, cognitively downward trending, to people who would treat ME like THAT. It's not just driving someone to a doctor's visit and putting something, any crap will do, into their stomachs and a remote to the TV in their hands, is it, my dear Napoleon? I recognize you, and I know you, through your words here, and we are connected in this heart-y way. Please don't feel alone, and when you do, remember me, because you are FAR from alone... I am sending you such a HUGE box of hugs... Bless your heart! Be strong, breathe in the Love you need and exhale the loneliness. xo xo xo
Saw my mom try to be both a Mom and a 50 hour a week manager. Too much for one person.