It's strange, because when I am blithe, people act like I should be worried. If I reveal my panic, people try to be reassuring and tell me not to worry. So I retreat to my law friends, the people who understand what the last 3 years were like for us. Over sandwiches at Urth Caffe, Christine asked, "Should we have known? Should we have realized that the economy was going to crash? Were there other options? I ask myself, 'What did I do wrong?'" I found it funny, because it was just so absurd---how could we have realized coming in that the system would change so dramatically?
It's hard to explain your situation to anyone on the outside when 1/3 of your class does have jobs. The natural assumption is that it's a personal failure on your part, but there's really not much separating the bulk of us in terms of talent. Our fates were sealed by the end of our first year anyway---that they weren't joking about.
In the midst of commiserating, there's still an undercurrent of hope that maybe time will lead us to something we absolutely love. Despite all the griping, I feel lucky for having met some of the smartest, wittiest people I've ever met in my whole life.
Some of my favorite unlicensed, unemployed attorneys:
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My sister went through this phase after law school and it lasted something like 2 years. As for the economy crashing.. who would have known when we first went off to college? Those who have jobs feel stuck and guilty that we're not feeling grateful for our jobs, however crappy and soul-sucking those damn jobs are, and those without jobs.. it sucks even harder.
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