Worried
New Yorkers of a certain age are often very cynical and flippant. The question, "What are you worried about?" often cuts through that.
Mansoor
"There's a lot of things I worry about. Personally, I worry about how long I'll last without having to get surgery for my bad hip. But on a larger scale, I worry about the state of the world, mostly why people don't consider the consequences of war in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
"The economy doesn't worry me too much. I work with a labor union. My job is secure. We try to make our members' jobs secure. But there are moral problems with having an economy that still has those on Wall Street making so much money. We need to fix that. Am I worried that the economy is going to collapse or that we're on the verge of doom and I should go out and buy gold? No. I think hysteria like that is often overblown. Sure, certain jobs are less secure and it's harder to find work. People at the bottom of the economic ladder have to worry about their jobs, but I believe that if you're worried about your job then you need to form a union."
-Mansoor, Summer 2010, Brooklyn, NY
Briana
"I worry that I am not making the right decisions - that the new steps I have been taking are missteps - or that the ones I made to get me on this path weren't the right ones after all. I'm worried that, with multiplicity of choice, I'm not able to just choose. And I'm worried that that will keep me from moving forward."
-Briana, Summer 2010, Brooklyn, NY
Sunita
"I worry about a lot of things. I tend to channel a lot of my worries into 'global concerns', political issues, war and militarism, imperialism. I was thinking recently that I kind of wish I had been born a generation or two earlier because times are so apocalyptic right now with global warming. I have four gorgeous little nieces who are amazing and I just think, 'Wow. When they're my age, the world could be significantly different climate-wise and kind of uncomfortable to live in.' That makes me really sad.
"I also worry about the economy a little bit. I definitely worry about my own financial security, but I worry about capitalism a lot. I think capitalism is such a huge problem and is related to the things that I mentioned previously; imperialism, militarism, and global warming. I worry about the economy, but not in the sense that I really want it to succeed. I want it to fail so that we can have something better."
-Sunita, , Summer 2010, New York, NY
Anthony
"What worries me most is something bad happening to my son. Whether that's physically or psychologically. Last week he had a rash and I couldn't sleep so well that night. Earlier, I was worried that he would be too hot in his room and it would get worse overnight because it wasn't cool enough in his room. Fortunately, he hasn't really had anything serious happen to him in awhile.
The economy worries me, but I haven't really had to worry about money in my life. I'm just now starting to grasp the real problems in that and that my life is actually starting to be affected by that. Moving to Texas is a direct extension of that. If the economy was different my wife would probably hold out for a better job. My life is being pushed in a way that I don't particularly like the direction probably because of the economy. I'm concerned again about my son's future because I think the American empire might be doomed and that will certainly affect his livelihood.
"Those are pretty long-term, far-away worries. The more immediate issues, like moving to Texas and being somewhat subject to my wife's job prospects, that stuff doesn't worry me as much because I feel like we're going to be okay. My wife is a very good job candidate. She's a step ahead of a lot of other people. The fact that she got this job, we're somehow maybe naively confident that she'll get another job.
"I'm a worrywart but for some reason, that doesn't worry me. My career kind of sucks right now because of it, but because…I don't know. Like I said, maybe it's naïve, but we're sort of confident that she's going to be able to sustain that. I've sustained this for years. Now it's her turn and we're confident that that will probably work."
-Anthony, , Summer 2010, New York, NY