It is interesting that high-achiever Melissa Meyer appears to have considered only one public-sector option -- teaching -- where she lacks credentials and interest. She could explore other public options, several that could lead her back to Washington and to power positions in the future.
Highly educated and athletic, she could consider becoming an officer in one of the five military services, as well as the FBI, Customs, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Secret Service and the State Department's Foreign Service. Additional career
opportunities are available in a number of state and city public safety agencies, including law enforcement and fire and rescue. Almost all of these sectors are actively recruiting women ...
The comments on the article itself are a mixed bag, which is what I pretty much predicted: several people are nasty in the "You didn't work hard"/"You're entitled and whiny"/"Aww ... cry me a river" vein (don't you love the anonymity provided by the Internet); at least one person blamed "Obama socialism" (seriously?); and others were more like the letter writer above. The perspective of others is always interesting to read with pieces like this, especially since the article focuses on the type of person who normally doesn't get much sympathy from your average reader -- someone who is smart, white, and middle/upper-middle class. So I kind of see where the "You're entitled and whiny" comments may come from.
Now, I only read the first 20 or so comments out of however many there were (probably a couple of hundred--the article's a week old) but I wonder how many people out there really considered her point of view when they posted. In other words, I wonder how many people read that and asked themselves if she kind of wants to be checked out for a little while because she's burned out from the life she's led so far?
Think about it: raised in a family with a strong work ethic, has successful siblings, was valedictorian of her high school class, worked her ass off at a competitive university where she was fully engaged and entrenched. If I spent an enormous amount of time looking for a job and was forced to move back home because my lease ran out and I had no way of paying it, I'd get frustrated, too. Not that it's a huge excuse, but again, I think we're seeing, in this recession, a resurgence of the disappointment that comes with an entire generation discovering that it is way much harder out there than they were told it would be.
This generation, in fact, probably has it worse off than the one that graduated 20 years ago and headed into the recession of the early 1990s. Because Gen-Xers weren't held up like Simba in The Lion King at birth while Elton John played for them and then had their butts wiped by everyone who came along (mostly to sell them something, which they readily bought). So Millenials (God, I hate that term) have an even bigger letdown and maybe even a longer recovery in store for them.
At least, though, there seems to be some sort of understanding out there, people who have been through it and are going through it and can see that a story like this isn't just some fluff profile piece for the sake of a fluff piece; that it's as real as the stories the Post has been running about people losing their homes because they got led down a dark path by predatory lenders.
It's good journalism and a good conversation to have.