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I was sitting here thinking about days gone by .
I wonder how many men near my age 59 who were brought up in a country where you could support you and your wife and if you had children you could support them too on one job working 8 hours a day 5 days a week . The job could have been any blue collar job and you managed to get by , felt like you had a future and and things would get better through an honest days work .
During this time many women wanted to work as well and be able to build up a savings and contribute not wonting to be classified as "house wifes" , and become an equal .
I had no problem with any women working and having a life outside the home . I certainly felt the work place was much better when in was no longer a mens club . If did not matter if they were my boss either .
I didn't know at first that women were paid less because it seemed to be something no one talked about . Once I did realize this I felt it was unfair .
There was the womens movement for equality and i had no problem with it . Of course I was still from the times were men opened doors and things of that sort and I do admit there were times I was told by women they could open their own door > I adjusted to this , I could tell when the women walked to the car door and placed her hand on the handle she was not requiring my help and this was fine and I respected this . It took a conscious effort to know what to do .
Now at my age as a male I find I am not able to be a provider any longer , no longer the one provider who could cover a wife let alone a family . This is quite difficult to accept without feeling like a failure and now the wife is forced to work still for less pay .
I battle to this day an out rage of becoming so down sized and I know well how women have always felt . Now we are in the same boat .
In the last 3 years I have been in and out of the workforce and my wife and I struggle to make ends meet as a team . through the course of struggle my wife ended up on SSI and a few years later due to a breakdown I am now on disability .
This is truely a sorry and sad place to be , that in our later years we have been stripped of all dignity and feel useless and forgotten and obsolete .
How are people defined now days as they worked hard and felt a part of society and now it has all been stripped away . We both worked hard and not for the american dream but to survive in our later years and feel good we made it and now that's far from the case .
There are no longer jobs I know how to do that pay well and worse due to my age I am not desired as an employee .
All I have left are my dust covered tools to remind me of what i once was , a working class hero with no hope for the future other than to try my best to survive without purpose .
I feel like a failure because I was brought up with the sense of being the bread winner . Now I am nothing and i feel I have failed my wife .
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