Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Yesterday the news was very unsettling with the announcement that the unemployment rate is up the 9.4%. The highest in over 25 years. I was just a kid then, ok so I was 26 years old, to me that is a kid. Back then if you lost your job eventually you would find a new one and unemployment benefits seemed to be enough. We did call it a recession, but for some reason it did not seem as bad as this one. There are more of us and less opportunities for employment. More jobs have been sent to other countries where labor is cheaper and the jobs that are available to us are few and far between. You didn't need to make a huge salary back then to support yourself or your family. Today the cost of living has morphed into something that is unsustainable without a good paying job with benefits.

Everyone is wondering what is going to happen. How much worse is it going to get? For those that are about to run out of unemployment benefits will they lose their homes, how will they eat, where will they go?

Last night I watched the Wizard of Oz and I could not help but feel Dorothy's optimism for a better life when she sings Somewhere Over the Rainbow. This song was written in 1939. What she didn't know at the time was that her life was pretty good, except for Miss Gulch, of course! She had a home, food, family, friends and love. What else is there?

"Somewhere Over the Rainbow"
Music by Harold Arlen and Lyrics by E.Y. Harburg

Dorothy
Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high.
There's a land that I heard of Once in a lullaby.
Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue.
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.
Someday I'll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops, Away above the chimney tops.
That's where you'll find me.
Somewhere, over the rainbow, bluebirds fly. Birds fly over the rainbow,
Why then - oh, why can't I?
If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow,
Why, oh, why can't I?

Dorothy Goodwin