When a prepper family member is laid off from a job, it can be considered to be a family disaster. This article discusses how fellow worshipers can help the laid off family member to become employed quickly again.
The Baltimore Yellow Pages indicate that there are about 4,000 locations of worship in Baltimore. That makes Baltimore a great networking city for people of faith who are temporarily out of work.
Spiritual brothers and sisters are likely to give a laid off prepper family member their wholehearted networking efforts. Their efforts are likely to be productive because they probably know worshipers in some of those other 4,000 locations of worship in Baltimore. Some of these worship groups even have job search training services.
Fellow worshipers might also have other ways to help unemployed family members. These fellow worshipers probably, for example, are members of many other types of organizations that also can expand an unemployed family member’s job seeking network. Some of these fellow worshipers also might have their own businesses and would be able to offer a part time, a temporary, or even a permanent job. Finally, if an unemployed family member’s financial situation is grim, some of these fellow worshipers might make unsolicited offers to loan some much needed money.
Unfortunately, unemployment sometimes sets off feelings of shame that cause people to hide their unemployment status. Men are more prone to these feelings than are women. This is unfortunate, because, in this current era of mass layoffs across the nation, unemployment often has little to do with the qualifications or character of those who become unemployed. The mass layoffs usually have more to do with an ailing national economy, and thus, the unemployed usually are only innocent victims.
Hiding an unemployment status is counterproductive. If fellow worshipers do not know that an unemployed family member needs help, the unemployed family member will not be able to benefit from their enthusiastic networking support. With so many economic factors against the working class on the national level, unemployed family members should not refuse support on a local level.
During this difficult period, a priest or a minister can offer skilled counseling only if the unemployed family member does not hide his or her unemployment. The urge to withdraw into private shame is counterproductive and can start a downward spiral. Being willing to accept the reality of the unemployment situation and being willing to accept the available help is part of the adaptive spiral that will get unemployed family members past their temporary career setbacks.
In the future, some these roles might be reversed. At a future time, when the unemployed family member has attained a job, some other fellow worshipers might be unemployed. Then, the job seeker/helper roles can be reversed. This will give new meaning to the idiom, “One hand washes the other.”
If you have had help from your fellow worshipers or have helped them, please share your experiences.
