Somewhere, I’ve written the story - more than once - about that phrase, “What’cha Gonna DO?”, and my response to it. It is the single most memorable thing I ever heard Richard Pryor say. He was quoting his friend Jim Brown talking to him about his cocaine addiction… over and over, regardless of what excuse Pryor would make, his friend would simply reply, “That’s good, Rich, but… What’cha Gonna DO?”

I think of this in terms of a lack of ability - or desire - to face a problem of any sort.

Unemployed? Uninsured? Broke? Homeless?

This subheadline / subject poses four apparent problems and asks that question.

I say to you right here, right now, that those problems arise specifically because of a disconnect between what is real and what is imaginary, between what is universally true and what is true only in the context of a specific - and completely artificial - situation.

The reality is that the problems themselves are only “real”, are only “true”, and only exist within the context of the society in which the person perceiving the problems believes himself to be embedded.

Look: whether or not you are a member of the society - or the part of the society - in which those problems are “real” is completely a matter of your own belief.

Let’s start with the first “problem” on the list, “unemployed”.

What does this MEAN? I think most of us would say “it means you don’t have a job”, and that’s more or less right. Almost no one will take the time to think through what “unemployed” means and what “job” means, they will simply take it for granted that it means the same thing to everyone and we don’t need to get all academic about it. I disagree. I think we most definitely do need to get all academic about it, because doing that will put us on the way toward dealing with the problem in an intelligent and useful way.

So - “unemployed” means what? Well, it means not “employed”. No question about “not”, but then what does “employed” mean? I may or may not have a link to it here, but if I don’t, please feel free to go look it up in the dictionary of your choice. You THINK it means “having a job”, don’t you? Most people will respond that way as an immediate definition. And that’s the way the word is almost always used… did you get the pun? Let me explain: what the word “employed” REALLY means, the literal definition, is “used”.

Now do you get it? The word, “unemployed” means “not being used”.

Your “employer” is a person who is “using” you.

Is not being used necessarily a bad thing? I think it is not.

You can probably see part of where I’m going with this. I’m going to take the other problems, and define what they REALLY are - as opposed to what you’ve been trained (programmed, propagandized) to believe - and what you can do about it… so you can come up with a rational answer to the question… “What’cha Gonna DO?”

Part II coming soon…

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