Al Martinez ponders Unemployment

" I’m not sure that unemployment heightens the senses. I don’t know that being apart from the crowd allows any special perspective. But involvement takes time and attention while isolation demands no such effort..."



Dear friends,

I am always honored to present work by my good friend, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Al Martinez. After many decades of doing so, he is no longer working at the Los Angeles Times. Instead, he only works for himself now, and he is plenty busy. We all have powers within us that allow us to do many things, after all.

To be sure, loneliness is a condition that no human can escape, because, ultimately, we have to think for ourselves, speak for ourselves, eat for ourselves and go to the bathroom for ourselves. It is just that we live in such an "advanced" society that allows us to have so much "free" time, instead of having to spend all day foraging and hunting for food - as our ancestors did, that we can easily forget that our relationship to others is the basis for our prosperity. In other words, as a species, from the school janitor to the teacher to the police officer, bus driver, auto meechanic, grocer and carpenter, we all play a role in our cooperative effort to co-exust.

The sad part is: Historically, kids coming out of college have rarely had enough experiences in life to provide any kind of useful analyses for readers. At least to me, the whole process of becoming a journalist needs to be re-done. It has to be more than just a job. It must be a passion.

Finally, everyone wants to know something. However, far too often journalists censor themselves, because the point of so much of North American journalism has more to do with getting the reader riled up, as opposed to “informing in order to inspire”. Additionally, the editors have greater concern for their jobs as their occupations are determined by their bosses and advertisers (secondly). Moreover, at least to me, journalists must become more entrepreneurial ad band to gether to form their own news outlets. Part of the problem is the laziness that people get from taking a pavcheck, instead of earning their money based on a variety of skills they’ve developed over the years.

At any rate, on the link below is a very humorous but equally serious (i.e., thought-provoking) piece. Enjoy!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://almartinez.org/wordpress/?p=30