I feel drunk but I’m sober, I’m young and I’m underpaid I’m tired but I’m working, yeah I care but I’m restless, I’m here but I’m really gone I’m wrong and I’m sorry baby
—Alanis Morissette, One Hand In My Pocket
If your biggest problem involves choosing between multiple appealing jobs, everything else will seem less important. Because picking the right job is a really big deal.
For the past decade, you’ve probably worried about finding or keeping any job. Many people work several part-time jobs. A lot of young people have to live with their parents. No one seems sure they’ll get a paycheck next week.
When you don’t feel secure and you don’t feel you have choices, every little problem looks bigger and closer. Healthcare seems like a threat. A new president seems menacing. Uncertainty all around.
What it all comes down to Is that everything’s gonna be fine, fine, fine ‘Cause I’ve got one hand in my pocket And the other one is giving a high five
—Alanis Morissette, One Hand In My Pocket
But when you feel in control of your life, your brain gets more creative. Those problems that once looked big and close now seem tiny and far away. Specks, really. You can flick them away with your middle finger. And it feels good, doesn’t it?
Donald Trump and the GOP have a chance to put so many problems in the past. It all starts with tax reform. Tax reform that lets people start new businesses. Tax reform that encourages companies to bring foreign money back home to us. Tax reform and regulatory reform that lets companies spend more money on research and development and raises and new jobs.
When America is building, Americans are winning. You want to win, don’t you? You want to get tired of winning. So tired of winning.
You don’t have to celebrate this great moment in history until it lifts you. But you might find yourself smiling and whistling as those great jobs come back, as the factories reopen, as the big problems of today become little specks of problems in your past.
There’s no need for gloom and doom. Maybe we haven’t figured it all out just yet, but you have one hand in your pocket and the other one’s flicking those problems away.
America is about to hit a winning streak. And you’re on that winning team.