When there is crisis, there is opportunity.
This is not so much political, as it is informative (and maybe even encouragement).
Washington is not a place to live in. The rents are high, the food is bad, the dust is disgusting and the morals are deplorable. Go West, young man, go West and grow up with the country.
Horace Greeley encouraged Civil War veterans to take advantage of the Homestead Act and colonize the public lands out west in 1865.
During this graduation season, in post-Industrial America, and during the slow recovery from the Great Recession and lingering long-term unemployment, I say, fortes fortuna adiuvat.
Go Abroad, Young One, Go Abroad
Fortune favors the bold.
There is a wide world out there and it needs you.
Americans are, generally, an insular group that rarely even think about anything beyond their political borders. We must accept the fact that we are really a global economy and we, as a culture, have to broaden our views.
A few lucky students would have had the opportunity to study abroad and even a smaller group would do the old "take a year off and backpack Europe".
But what about after graduation?
Young grads, consider the Peace Corps
The Peace Corps works in countries from Asia to Central America, and from Europe to Africa. In each of these countries, Volunteers work with governments, schools, and entrepreneurs to address changing and complex needs in education, health and HIV/AIDS, business, information technology, agriculture, and the environment.
http://www.peacecorps.gov/...
It's a great way to start a resume.
Apply for positions at the US State Department.
For the fifth year in a row, the Department of State has placed in the top ten ideal employers in an annual poll of undergraduates reported by BusinessWeek.
http://www.state.gov/...
But more than just good works and government, there is the private sector opportunities to exploit.
Work teaching English, volunteer work, and freelance jobs of all kinds are an increasingly attractive option to many in the face of the current global recession.
You can land just about any job abroad that you can in the United States; the secret is to go there. While a few lucky souls move with a U.S. contract in hand—including attractive expatriate benefits—many of us go without any guarantee of work on the other side.
The payoffs are worth the gamble. More than likely you will peg in at a higher responsibility level with greater mobility than with your job at home. This doesn’t necessarily translate into higher earnings, but nonmonetary benefits include development of language and cross-cultural skills and a global perception.
We are frequently amazed at the positions our friends hold and the activity stemming from their work. The people we know are no different from the people we studied with in college, except that they made the decision to work abroad. The professional community abroad is smaller, the contacts are at higher levels—and things just seem to happen.
Admittedly, the transcontinental jump is a challenge. Pulling up roots, convincing your family to accept a move to a foreign country, then sacrificing part of your savings for airfare and the job hunt is difficult. But through adaptability and determination, most of us succeed in making the transition.
http://www.transitionsabroad.com/...
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
http://www.aol.bartleby.com/...