In My 20s Tuesday is all about things that should matter (maybe) to someone in their 20s. It's about life as we head into real adulthood. It's about laying the groudwork for a life: starting a career, setting up a home, starting a life with someone, etc. It's about things that will affect our lives down the road: politics, current events, pop culture, etc. Well, it's not about all those things at once (that'd be near impossible, lol). But hopefully it will reach someone in their 20s who's looking for someone to feel them and what they're going through. Here goes!
I didn't want today to be like yesterday when I thought of a lovely topic to write about and then forgot and had to basically type my way into remembering it, lol. There's actually two things I want to talk about. The first is what's going on with China and their treatment of people who fight for human rights. The other is my friend Bad and his issues at work.
First, China is not a democracy, and their leaders have made it clear that they are not interested in becoming a democracy. Whatever one's feelings about America's need to spread democracy everywhere, most Americans will say they are glad we are in a democracy. Well, that probably excludes some Republicans and Tea Partiers who don't like the direction the people they didn't vote for are taking this country in, but I digress. So China has a lawyer named Gao Zhisheng. He has become well-known internationally (please Google him) for his bringing cases to court that fight for Human Rights. China decided he was subverting state power and took action. His wife and children are now residing in America. They just released him after 3 years. People hadn't heard anything from him and thought he might be dead, but couldn't do anything about it. He is trying to fight now for his right to go join his family. He has given up being a lawyer, and has apologized to the people he feels like he is letting down, citing he isn't strong enough to still carry on this fight and wants to be with his family. I hope no one feels like he has let anyone down. I wonder how some of us would react if the Chinese government basically kidnapped us and tortured us for three years (I'm talking electric shocks to the genitals).
But this is important to people in their 20s because the world we live in is changing. America isn't alone is being this super power that runs the globe. China is making headway. It won't be long before their standing right next to us in influence over global policy. I know America has comparable behavior with the whole Guantanamo Bay thing, but we don't have these types of reactions to our own citizens who are fighting for rights (at least not in recent American history). And as much as China has a government that suppresses some human rights, they also have a rich culture and lovely ethnic variability. I was lucky enough to spend a couple of weeks in China in undergrad. It is still one of my favorite experiences in life that I wouldn't trade for almost anything. I did a lot of sightseeing, food tasting, partying, and visiting medical clinics and hospitals. But I'd hate to think what would've happened had I upset some government official with my love for democracy.
It's important to be aware of the world around us and how it changes. These changes will be happening within our lifetime, and that can affect us and our children educationally, economically, and politically.
The second thing I want to talk about is my friend Bad's job. He works for a non-profit and his job has him in charge of a couple of other people and a couple of programs. He is currently looking to hire someone to head up a new nutritional program they're implementing (which incidentally was developed by the medical students at Harvard medical school, where I have two good friends there!). He is interviewing people for the job and hasn't yet found someone he likes. He either has people with the right personality for the job or the right skills for the job, or some combination of the two that isn't about 80% for either one. He's upset because he feels like there should be a better applicant pool seeing as how so many people are unemployed. He's also reminded how glad he is that he has a job that can become a career. It's nice to have job security when people are beefing up their standards based on a presumed availability of qualified applicants. This particular job is at a center that's on the South Side of Chicago, which means the kids the hiree will be looking for a certain swagger to deal with these school age south-siders. They're pretty hard core (and I'm not talking about violence for anyone jumping to conclusions). By the way, if anyone knows someone with nutrition knowledge who's looking for work in the afternoon who can get to the south side of the Chicago, look for the job offering on http://www.careerbuilder.com/.
But this type of life experience should matter to 20-something people, especially those looking to start their careers fresh out of school. People who actually have the means to hire new employees seem to be raising their standards. Their doing this out of an assumption that the applicant base has improved because of increased unemployment. Make sure your resumes are completely on point. Make sure your interview skills are above par. And make sure that when your interview begins, you don't start with "wasssssuuuuuup." Seriously, Bad told me someone did that today. Sigh. My people, my people.
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