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Sometimes hopes
and dreams are not fulfilled and life takes a snakes and ladders route.
Perhaps this is the norm.
In the 1960’s in
Britain we were basking in a ‘You’ve never had it so good’ time, but in the
early 70’s wages were frozen and times were hard for those families in
particular that were trying to make ends meet and on a low wages. It is
little different today in 2010 and probably even harder.
Climbing that
ladder to higher pay has never been easy, but we were told by Prime
Minister Mrs Thatcher that the new meritocracy would allow everyone who
worked hard enough to earn a decent wage. Many were naïve enough to hope for
such a dream.
Take a young
ambitious person starting out with a family in 1970. There are all the usual
bills to pay and there is nothing left after rent and the few extra pounds
of family allowance. Pressure builds up to climb the ladder of promotion for
a higher wage instead of just debt.
To improve a
C.V. extra courses are started, extra responsibilities are taken , extra
this and that, sometimes endless paperwork all to impress and become a
success in the eyes of others. Vast amounts of time and energy are put into
this, often at the expense of family.
The path to
success has many pitfalls and they can multiply. The pitfalls are not part
of the work plan, but they just arise for everyone whether we like it or
not. They just arise from the most unpredictable directions. In spite of all
the efforts put in, success in the work place is
not automatic.
Trouble is, after
all the striving for success, a sense of failure can creep in and a feeling
of letting loved ones down who have often been neglected for the quest of
glory to that ‘job success citadel’ in the sky.
There can be a
falling back, a disappointment, a gloom, a darkness, a re-treading of ground
of earlier years to cushion the frustration of that hazy vision of the
future.
Sometimes a body
stresses out with the frustration and in the 1970’s doctors prescribed
Valium (happy pills) to sooth the physical and mental pain that sometimes
takes hold. Valium was not for everyone and it just made some people worse.
At such times
some people even turn to God. The road to recovery is always hard. It takes
time for a body to heal that break, that turmoil. In the end, time heals,
but leaves a scar. That’s life.
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