Who are you and what do you love?

Seriously, why is the first thing people ask each other some question related to their job. Like, really- a job is what we do for money and sometimes it has to do with who we are and our interests but really, to know someone it takes more than a question about their current employment status.

Especially in this kind of economy. I guess I'm sensitive about it because I've been without formal employment since December and that really gets to me. I'm not an irresponsible individual- I do have goals and passions and direction but when there aren't jobs, there aren't jobs. It's been tough and while I haven't been doing nothing- I've taken classes, read good books, volunteered at several places, improved a lot in my art, and built good relationships- it's still hard to tell people I don't have a job. And I wish people wouldn't ask so much. I wish they would ask- what are your passions? What drives you? Who are you? What do you like? There are so many more interesting questions than "What do you do to put food on the table?" And I realize a person's job is often very connected to who they are, because jobs shouldn't be just about what gets you food on the table, but in this economy it sometimes really is.

So I'm really challenging myself to look at people from a different perspective than their employment and ask questions more related to who they are than what they do.

Part of this is my insecurity at not having a job but I think there's something deep God wants me to learn about these hard past 3 months. They have been pretty awful months, and I've hated them, to be honest. But holy cow have I grown and learned.

And now I have been offered an awesome job doing something I will absolutely love for a year, but I really do not want to forget the lessons I have learned from these past 3 months about the worth of a person and where it comes from, and the need to ask questions that reflect my values and not the world's values. Often people who have changed the world have been quite poor and quite awkward in the world's eyes. Non traditional people who didn't give a hoot about what people thought of them. I don't want to pass those kinds of people up in my life, just because I ask them the typical questions, and just because I got to know them on the surface.