All 99er's Are Asking, Is Please Give Us A Chance. PLEASE!

The following is evidence of the reality that sadly is not relayed. Tonight this space is blank. Tonight this space is in reverence to those of us that have passed.

We know who they are. We know who was accountable during their watch for these gone souls.

Tomorrow I'll post their remembrance in summary. Please don't be shy to post and help me to recognize those who just could not take this abysmal situation . And tomorrow you and I are going to get serious. Real serious. In protection of our families and in remembrance to Americans that other working Americans have not been aware of, and to those of us that will be protected by what we put forward very soon.

In remembrance, to those we know have passed, we offer this space to be filled later with our sorrow and prayer. God bless.





























God bless. Thanks everyone.

Jeff

For Tweeter individuals, please initially follow AND RETWEET me at @scaredofwidths

And I can't speak for the super mods and admins of this forum (remember I'm only the character X). I'm sure they will share out their ids. But for privacy please PM us all.

Privacy in our life is key to this forum, as well as your timely input into this thread. Without your input I'm not sure if I can do it alone. I'm having trouble with my eye as well as my machinery. So please be upfront and open. I'd really appreciate your input.

Again thanks and I'm thrilled to be with you. Would you please bring your fellow neighbors and friends. God willing, we will do this and do this with style.

Thanks to my fellow mods and admins. We all deserve a 2nd chance, don't we?

Jeff

This is really a strange coincidence. I logged in here this morning after being away for a few weeks and this is the first topic I opened. I hope this is the kind of story you are looking for.

Yesterday was a very bad day for me and my family. Two years ago, my cousin lost his job on June 9, 2009. The place was in real financial trouble because of the economy and was about to close. I know that he was very upset at the time, he had worked at the place part-time during high school and then full time when he graduated. He never went to college, he had a good paying job at a skilled trade. Looking back, I wish I had at least called him to offer support, but I had just buried my father less than two weeks before this after a short bout with a rare form of lung cancer.

I will never forget the phone call I received from my mom on the morning of June 11, 2009. She was calm, but from her tone I could tell she was shaken. I remember hearing her words, but they didn't sink in right away. My cousin, only a few years older than me, had taken his life very early that morning at home while the family slept. My uncle went to wake him, and found him hanging from a make-shift gallow in his bedroom. He had left a voice mail and text message that he felt useless, he had lost everything when he lost his job. He had devoted himself to it for over 10 years, and because he had never gone to college, he said he knew he would never find another job that he could survive on. He was only 29 years old. Our family has never gotten over this, it destroyed my aunt and uncle mentally and physically. They will never be the same.

I was angry back then, I had also lost my job at Bank of America in March 2009 and couldn't understand why my cousin felt he had to do this to his family and friends over a stupid job. Things were going to get better, we'd find another job, this was just another recession we were going through and it would end soon. We were young, we had our whole lives ahead of us. There was plenty of time to go back to school, start over and go on. How dare he do this to everyone over a stupid job. Even though he was a few years older, all my cousins were really close. We hung out together and we were all true friends. I asked myself (and still do) why didn't I call, why didn't I really listen when everyone said he was so depressed about his situation. Could I have done anything to change the outcome?

I spent the day yesterday looking at old pictures, reliving the good times and remembering a life lost at such a young age because of a job. I thought to my self yesterday, did he know things then that we didn't? I mean, here I am 2 years later, still no job or any prospect of one in sight, I am only 28, have a college degree and a solid work history and excellent references. Maybe the insights he had the night he took his life are a reality - we will never have our old lives back. I had been independent since the day I went off to college but had to move back with my mom last month because everything is gone. Is this what the future is going to be? How did he know this was the way things would be now back in the early morning hours of June 11, 2009? Maybe there was an undiagnosed mental health problem, bi-polar disorder runs in my family, I lost another cousin in 1999 who was only 19 that I was very close to to this horrible disease.

Maybe he did have underlying issues, but losing his job and the feeling of hopelessness pushed him over the edge. He is gone now, and we are all left with the guilt and sorrow, doubting ourselves and blaming ourselves for not paying closer attention to the despair.

I usually don't share stuff like this, I keep it in, but I hope this story can save a life. If anyone out there is feeling like this, thinking their life is over because of the situation we are all in right now, please, I beg you, think again. You won't be able to take back your actions if you decide you want to end it all, and you will leave behind family and friends who will never be the same. For the people with family and friends who even suggest this, please comfort and support them. Let them know that a job doesn't define their lives. We will get through this. Tell them you will be there for them. Don't shut them out. It isn't their fault. I have spent two years reliving those days in June, wondering if I could have made a difference. I was in the same situation, I could have talked to him, but I never even dreamed that we would still be in the same mess two years later, and the situation seems to only be getting worse.

Thank you for letting me share this. As I said, I have kept it all in, and when I saw this topic this morning it was like a sign for me to speak out. This can't keep happening, and it does, how many people in this country have or will end up like my cousin. We will never know the true number of the forgotten victims, but I think the numbers are would be a wake-up call for the people who have chosen to ignore the millions of jobless and underemployed citizens of this country right now.

I am tweeting and re-tweeting right now. #99ers.!!

Tiya - Your post is so painful and yet so true! Please don't beat yourself up for not doing more, for not knowing the unknowable... I sometimes disbelieve that this CRISIS has been ALLOWED to continue on and on when there are those who could HELP in power? How can that be??

I KNOW these events have/are changing who my DH and I are to our very core, yet two years of explaining this --- to both sides of family --- have been dismissed and brushed off. I no longer try and just forgive that they do not 'get it?'

It's difficult to say "Thank you" for such an insight into the personal toll this unemp crisis has taken on innocent individuals and their families. Wish EVERY politican and elected leader would have as REQUIRED READING!! God bless you and family...

So sorry for your loss, Tiya! Thats incredibly sad.

Tiya, could you possibly add that to the comments section of this blog post?

http://uibenefits-misconceptions.blogspot.com/2011/06/attention-congress-unemployment-facts.html

We are tweeting faxing and emailing this with the comments at the bottom to congress and the media. Your story needs to be told. You dont have to leave your name, you can sign as anonymous.

In fact, I urge all to share at least a part of your story. they need to see as many as possible!

Thanks!!

Going to continue starting tomorrow. All letters, comments and stories are being emailing. Will tweet and in the afternoon, I will start the calls again.

Sadly this is the story of unemployment that never gets told..

RIP

I just signed the petition we have to stick together on this and be bold !!!

Thanks for your very appropriate posts. I have to apologize as I meant to continue forward motion on this thread, but I'm currently stuck with a PC that has been up and down lately.

Hopefully my luck will be better tomorrow, or I can go somewhere to tune in.

Good luck to everyone in making it through this coming week and I hope a job comes to each of you (me too).

tiya Thank you for sharing and I am so sorry for the loss of your cousin.

I am not sure what to think, I am 44 years old, and feel that age is being used against me, but really it is simply a lack of jobs for the number applying. I sometimes find myself blaming CEO's and polilticians, and even say some not so kind things out of not sure what to call it jealousy?

Even if I had landed a job... I think it would be hard to be ok with how things are now. I see it in people who still have their jobs, the fear, and the number of people that now work for minimum wage.

I am still hanging on and hoping but there are so many moments that I feel so defeated.

A job should not be worth a life. However, for so many of us jobs have defined us in some way. I never have an ideal job, but my last job was one that payed well with good benefits. I apply for jobs that will not even get me by over time, but can't seem to land even those anyway.

There has to be something good to say. I keep telling myself that over and over.

I wish the best for everyone.

Take Care

John