Can we stop being human?

A few weeks ago I read a story about a mother writing about the journey of her daughter. The journey of being a university student, majoring in politics and culture of food. The mom tells how she used to overexplain how her daughters chosen path of studies would turn into a steady paycheck.

All of that while the current job market is being extremely challenging. Especially studies in the “humane/social” sector.

Being a Sociologist and thus being in the “humane/social” sector, I know how hard it is to find a job in your own sector. I graduated 3 years ago, and I’m still trying to find a paid job. Slowly the job search is turning into a hell, if it already hasn’t.

Anyway, the story mentioned above, made me think. What is it, which makes the social sector such a harsh sector? Aren’t we all human? As human beings, how can we put away the sector, which exists to make sure we continue to live life in a humane way, in such a way as if it is a burden to us in times of economic crisis? Why is this sector so unappreciated?

I understand that in order to keep societies going on, financially, an investment is needed in the economy, that we have to make sure that IT works properly, that the incomes for the government through taxes have to be made more transparent and checked. So, I definitely do understand that those sectors are given a financial injection. As these sectors have to generate finances in order to get us out of the financial crisis.

I also understand that in times of financial crisis, the lack of finances is the big issue. What I fail to understand is that during times of crisis, when people are loosing their jobs, and when their need for social support is needed more than ever, why the means to that help are being cut down.

Yes, being on social welfare, and in search of a job, the social sector acts like a life support system for me at the moment. But, being a qualified citizen who wants to work and is not being able to find a job – I’m either overqualified or I don’t have the required specific knowledge or experience – it makes me feel extremely frustrated at times.

The social sector isn’t only there to provide people in surviving financially, no there is a whole system behind it. A system that can provide people – like me – with a job, instead of paying them for sitting home, while they have the potential and intellect to work within the sector.

In my opinion the system has to change in order to create jobs in all sectors, instead of creating joblessness. Policy has to be re-looked at, instead of making policy that punishes people for being human. We can not stop being human for as long as the crisis lasts, now can we?

Stop haunting me! I’m more than a number!

After checking out my “about” section, I saw I forgot to mention that I’m unfortunately depending on social welfare since August 2011. Yes, two months after graduating for my Masters degree I had to knock on the doors of the local department for social affairs and employment. For me walking into “the” building was so embarrassing. All I was thinking was “please don’t let me walk into any people who know me”. I just didn’t want to be related in any way to the stigma of social security receivers.

For those unfamiliar with the stigma; social security receivers are very often perceived as uneducated and/or lowly educated people who are okay with not working and receiving a few hundred Euros a month to foresee in their basic needs as rent, food, electricity, etc. I just did not want to be seen as such, since I did want to work and did not want to be a burden on society. As a matter of fact: I still want to work and I do not wish to be a burden on society. I mean, I do not hold a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree to sit at home and do nothing. I want to make a contribution to the society I live in and that can be done (amongst one) by working. Anyways, I’m going off track.

So when I first applied to receive social welfare, I heard I had to follow a track first, which would take about a month. During that month I would have to register all my steps in order to find a paid job. I also had to show proof of really trying to find a paid job. During that month, I would not receive any money. This meant that I had to loan money for my rent and other monthly costs, which I would have to pay back as soon as social welfare would be received by me. And yes, I do have to say, the month in which I had to try to get a job, would also be paid together with the first real payment. All of this has happened more than two years ago now.

In the mean time I’ve gone through several programs of the social affairs and employment department. Their policy is not adjusted to the current developments in society; they see all people depending on social welfare as the same type of people and they treat them likewise. This means that those who do not want to work and that those who do want to work, are seen as the same and have to go through the same program. Different people with different types of capital (social, cultural and human) are seen as the same. I understand that discrimination is not allowed, but in times of (financial) crisis, it’s necessary to first check if it is really a necessity to spend these finances on a person. If submitting a person into a program which is of no added value in finding a paid job for that person, the department should not invest the time and money in that certain person. It’s like throwing away money.

So for the last two years I have followed their orders and joined their programs without complaining or objecting at all. Of course, I did not feel happy about all of this, as it felt (and still feels) like I had to give up my freedom of living life normally and my self-esteem for a few hundreds Euros a month. All of that in order to pay my bills. Yet, I did whatever was asked to make sure they could not shortcut me on the social welfare payments made to me. But now they came up with something that made me feel as if I seriously had nothing to say about my own life anymore. Yes, this might sound like I’m a drama-queen, but I’m most definitely not over-dramatizing.

The following happened: I already go to the gym and work out. One day an employee of the social welfare e-mailed me to say he had signed me up for a sport program. The idea behind this program is that people in social welfare get a healthy lifestyle by working out together and that they can make use of each others networks in order to find a job. So, I told this certain employee of the social welfare agency that I already go to the gym and that most people who workout at the gym are people who have a job. He insisted that I had a talk with the coach of the program in which he had me enrolled. I talked to the coach and both of us concluded that it was of no added value to me. On giving the gentleman of social welfare this feedback, he tried to sound like a gentlemen. But from the way he spoke it was obvious that he was not content with the decision taken of not taking part in that program.

During the conversation he made clear to me that he was going to let me walk out of the program I’m currently in, in order to get me in some other program. All of this due to my own qualities of being able to do whatever social welfare asks from me, without them needing to supervise me. And this did not sound positive in any way possible. This gentlemen, who always had been behaving nicely suddenly turned into a man who disliked me. All of that, due to me finally saying no to something, which was of no added value in my search for a paid job.

But why did I say no? Apart from the fact that it holds no added value to me. Well, I already gave away so much of my own space to decide what’s good for me and what’s not. I gave away my freedom to live by my own will, just in order to pay my bills. A few hundred Euros took away independence, my self-respect and my ability to decide what’s good for me. And now they also want to decide how I have to spend my spare time, concerning my workout.

Excuse me, but please let me live a life of a human being with some self-respect, since most of it has already been taken away by social welfare. If I would have been an employee somewhere, earning double or triple the amount I’m receiving now, my employee wouldn’t even decide where or whether I should workout or not.

I just want to live my life as a human…and yes, I’m trying my level best to find myself a paid job, please stop haunting me… I’m more than a social security number!