See:
Downsized, a "Chicken Soup for the Soul" article.
At the bottom of the Amazon.com page for "Unemployed: A Memoir" is a thread of conversation titled:
"Are there any self-help books not containing religion"?" It is matter-of-fact the FIRST discussion thread.
I posted this on June 11, 2009:
"In 'Unemployed: A Memoir,' I quote passages from the Bible, and the Bhagavad Gita, by J. Robert Oppenheimer: 'If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one. I am become Death, the shatterer of worlds.' He was speaking of the 1st atomic bomb testing; I was speaking of my employment prospects with an HR rep.
"I tried not to write an overtly
religious book. Christianity is a part of my culture as an African American, so I could not tell my story without telling a little about the community of support around me, frustrations and triumphs reaching out to it for strength and comfort.
"Agnostic, Atheist, Theist: we each have support and friends around us that get us through this economic night. At least for all our sakes, I hope so.
www.reggiegoodwin.com."
With that being said: I just completed the graduation requirements for
New Light Church'sMinistry Development Institute. I am trained to do weddings, funerals, hospital visits and ministerial counseling. I find myself not only counseling people that have recently been unemployed, but praying for them. My list grows long. That may not be
your reaction. It is mine.
After a life of a multitude of sins, many of which I thoroughly enjoyed participating in, my penance is to give of myself to others.
As I've stated: Christianity is a part of my culture as an African American, many of its heroes fervent in the faith (some, which I admire for other qualities, were at their own admittance, not). It has not always been a
fervent part of my personal moral code as life, career, status and income tend to dominate when you think you've "made it," and devotion many times is sacrificed on the altar of "bedside Baptists."
I actually don't consider "Unemployed" a self-help book. It is a "commiserate book": I hoped by sharing my fears, pains, anger, frustration that you know "your not the only one" going through this.
I've included more "help" in the form of the "Directory of Related Links"; "Jobs Fair Calendar"; "Outsourced Americans Blog" (you're reading here). The "Unemployed Comics" by Matt Steen, "Dilbert" by Scott Adams is so you can laugh! I added a Twitter page. I'm tweeting. So there!
I started this journey in 2003; some of you just got on the wagon with me.
You may not self-publish a book, manage a blog, interview guest on an Internet talk show, or build a web site: but at least you'll know if I'm typing, I'm making it.
If you're reading, you're making it too!
