Where have all the jobs gone? - Real Life Stories for real people

How gullible are we as a people?

One single speech by Obama later, the US people drank the Koolaid again.
Did you guys actually listen? Obama wants to reform the health care system and actually not pay a dime for it? Cost savings alone to pay for all the lofty programs, commissions and government agencies?

How stupid can one possibly be? Don't you see that even the CBO considers this as impossible? Don't you see that Obama dismissed exactly those (by Republicans proposed) ideas, which could have in fact saved Billions of Dollars, namely the option to have insurance companies compete nationwide and aggressively addressing those frivolous Lawsuits, which force the medical professionals to buy exorbitant malpractice insurance and otherwise practice defensive medicine.
That's 300B right there and then.

These would have been tangible cost savings, but since the trial lawyers are a powerful Obama lobby, Obama does not want to take on, he window dressed the issue with some test studies which wil take years and were already proposed by Bush and killed by a Democratic Congress. So in reality, Obama is once again ramming a leftist agenda down our throats with a solution which in so many other countries has proven to be disastrous and bancrupting the countries. And he sells it as bipartisan approach?? You gotta be kidding me.

He talked about inheriting a TR in deficit. He did not talk about himself blowing this deficit up to 10 TR!! He talked about listening to good ideas - infact he dismisses the really great ones like TORT reform or nationwide competing. He talked about bi-partisanship, but in fact snubbed the Reps on several occasions.


While that congressman who screamed "lyer" certainly did not behave according to decorum, he in fact was right. As a minimum the speech was once again as misleading and disingenuous, as all those many campaign speeches, where he promised us drilling, nuclear powerplants, an aggressive push towards independence from foreign oil, eliminating the pork barrel corruption in DC and so many other promises he since has broken.

Do you know one single Government controlled program which works? History has shown that the government has no track record in that regard. All we get is another dozens of inefficent, expensive gov agencies and a consequent cut in medicare. Our defizit will raise to 10 Trillion Dollars, while they continue to earmark Billions for Turtle research in Hawaii.

What I find so incredible is the fact that within one week public opinion had been swayed once again just by one (admittedly good) speech without any substance.

Yet another ( at present profitable) indusrty is being hand-cuffed and lay-offs will be the result, if the Gov unfairly competes with the private sector. Obama again will prolong the misery on the job market, as Roosevelt had prolonged the depression.

Yes - there is a huge amount of wasted money one could save. Tackle those goddarn earmarks finally as promised, would be one of my suggestions. Tackle in fact the waste in healthcare and allow for import of medicine and overall competition. That has proven to lower cost and improve offering.

As long, as the American People remain so gullible and seeminlgy unwilling to read (listen) between the lines, and Obama can change their opinion by just giving one speech, we must accept the fact that we are a stupid, naive, TV made people. We just encourage the Admin to take further advantage of us and demolish every last sound, common sense principle of the constitution. Let us spend ( waste) now and let another generation of politicians deal with the 10 TRillion deficit and the resulting hyperinflation, seems to be the credo now.

I call upon all readers to educate themselves, try to read the legislation, as hard to understand it may be and as opposed to our congress members who are too lazy to do their jobs. Listen to both sides of the aisle, especially, when those cost savings are concerned. Read between the lines and most of all forget the propaganda, as for instance presented on MSNBC, where never both sides get their say.

Since especially MSNBC has painted Fox (O'Reilly) into a red corner, I invite you to actually watch the Factor yourself and make up your own mind. While Olbermann is ranting until the spit runs down his chin, O'Reilly is calm, allows usually other opinions to debate and most of all remains constraint. He never retaliates against Olbermann or Maddows, which is smart, as their hatred, bitterness, acryd zynicism becomes so tiring and is likely the reason for their low numbers of people watching. Of course, if 80% of the media are way left, a centrist medium like Fox is understood as right wing. I do not try to convince you - I simply ask you to make up your own informed mind and not listen to Propaganda TV.

Have you actually paid attention to the fact that Van JOnes was not even mentioned other than at Fox? The leftist media does not want you to know about those radical people Obama surrounds himself with. Have you heard about ACORN and the shocking undercover videos, published by Glen Beck? Have you heard on any other news network, that the Gov had to sever ties with organization, which was earmarked for Millions of Dollars by the Obama Admin?.

The very same applies to Healthcare reform. If you watch ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN or read the print media, you will likely not get the full picture, as lying by omission is the rule.If Obama holds a speech in a classroom, he will be covered. If his green jobs zcar turns out to be about as crazy and left radical as Reverend Wright, gets caught and has to go, it is hardly mentioned - not even by CNN.

I call upon you independents to get the full picture, then make up your minds.
That is all I ask.


Now about the Job Situation
My closest friend is a former VP Sales/Marketing with reuptable companies such as Boeing or Unilever. He is highly skilled, enormously motivated, offers impeccable references and a proven track record of success in a variety of industries.

Due to the finance sector crisis, he became unemployed last year and 900 job applications later, he still was not able to secure employment. He is a sales and marketing guru, an inspiring leader with 15 years of top notch experience, always willing to contribute. He always paid his taxes, worked 80h/week and never asked for any handout by any government agency. he is more than willing to accept 50% cut in compensation, relocate to any place in the US, travel extensively and otherwise do anything, just to be able to contribute again.

So - what happened? Why is a top notch senior level manager not able to secure employment here in the US?

According to the media, tmany have given up searching or are otherwise disabled to conduct a jobsearch. This segment is not reflected in the overall job statistics or unemployment quote. What the media and our government do not tell us, is that the single largest sement of unemployed which are not contained in the official statistics are exactly those longterm unemployed middle to senior managers, where a job search takes in any normal condition already a few months.

After only 7-10 months, such people do no longer qualify for the ridiculous jobless benefits (best case $700/month, which does not even pay for the rent of an appartment, let alone for insurance or healthcare etc.) and therefore they are not reflected in the official number of unemployed, which is here in SoCal closer to 20% than to the 11 officially recognized 11%.

This is a whole bunch of proud, willing, ambitiouos, energetic and highly skilled managers who have not given up, but spend 8h a day scouring the internet for any possible job to provide for their families and themselves on a minimum level. My friend sent out over 1000 applications.

My friend is close to being evicted, has used up all his savings just to survive and still every single day sits down with optimism and applies for any possible job within his realm of experience. if he applies for a 40k job, he will be laughed out the building or comes across as overqualifed or 'desperate". For the few decent positions out there, he was told that he comnpetes with up to 5000 resumes, making the search almost a lottery.

He was told by headhunters to padd or "custom-tailor" his resume. He was told to lie. Just to secure an interview. He however is old-fashioned, believing that one should at all times show integrity, honesty and submit an honest, real resume to any employer.

His experiences during this last depression were outright disgusting. This situation has brought out the worst in people and companies.

Some companies use the cheap way of posting for instance a VP Sales/Marketing job to acquire free marketing consulting. One Company in Santa Barbara, selling to the music industry, asked their candidates to submit an extensive questionnaire asking them for instance to comment on their website or adverts, provide a P/L analysis etc. My friend, who accepted the "challenge", provided them with a professional 19 page white paper, whithout ever even getting an acknowledgment or any response. He even called to find out, but was brushed off. For 8 months this specific job was posted without ever having been filled. I assume they gathered about 100k of free marketing and sales consulting.

The job boards are full of such 'imaginary" positions, where companies take icecold advantage of the willing. Where has the American feel for fairness, ethics gone?

The next example is even more tragic. My friend applied for the position of Director Intl. Sales with Gibson Overseas in Los Angeles and was, due to his international business experience hired on the spot.
The President of the company gave him right there and then, during the very first interview a hand shake, stating that he was hired at 95K (about 50k below the level he made during his last tenure.). My friend nevertheless asked for a formal written job offer, which he received via e-mail, signed and filed and , upon which he cancelled his job search and, since he had two more interviews already lined up,politely declined the latter and cancelled all ongoing applications.

One week later, out of the blue the job offer was rescinded for no cause other than " we have second thoughts" and a new offer for 80k was issued, due to the fact that my friend lived 80miles away and the company wanted to incentive him to move closer, upon which he would be raised back again to the initially promised 90k.

Apart from the fact, that several staff commuted from San Diego to LA !!!!, that this must be seen as an unconstitutional effort into his own privacy , my friend who already had commited to this job, had no other choice than to address the "concern" by stating his willingness to weekly commute and live during the week in a motel nearby.
Did this address the concern's of Gibson satisfactorily? One should think so. but it got even better.

Upon addressing the concern in terms of commute by spending 800$ a month for a Motelroom, the president issued 1 day before the official start of the tenure a 3rd job offer at 85K. The culmination of lack of ethics, professionalism or integrity. My friend was treated like in a turkish carpet bazaar, where the rules change at the whim of the employer. Needless to state, that my friend accepted even this travesty, since had lost already crucial months and weeks of job search.

Six weeks into his tenure with this company offering pre-industrial age working conditions, where the staff is motivated by fear, working 7days a week, 90h, getting every single week written recognitions by his president, leading him to believe that he was 'on track", my friend was let go without any cause other than" we changed our mind and you did nothing wrong".

Were there any legal options? Nope. A work attorney told my friend, that he had absolutely no legal options, that any company can pretty much do with any employee, whatever they wanted.

Above examples demonstrate several terrible trends in the current economy.
The job seeker is at the bottom end of the totem pole, has no rights, no protection and no recourse. And, we are not talking low level menial work here - wer are talking about higly skilled managers, willing to invest their very best, if given a chance.

Above example also demnonstrates, how the job market, especially in the US manufacturing industry, came about.

It will not surprise you, that incidentally Gibson is one of the largest importers of ceramics, dinnerware, table and cookware out of China, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. They sell $55M of cheap merchandise to Wal-Mart alone, heck they maintain a WM-specific showroom in New York for this single largest client alone. Even the nice and shiny packaging is produced in China, where, according to several internal factory videos, my friend showed me, underaged or seniors, working for 1$ a day, labor under disgusting pre-industrial age conditions.
What you can purchase here at Walmart, 16 piece shiny dinnerware sets for 24$, is the result of slave labor and environmental poisoning, supported by a Chinese Government under no environmental restrictions and workers without any minimal protection.

Quality Assurance? Is a joke. If you let a sauce stand in one of those dishes, the bowl will eventually absorb the stuff and discolor. FDA oversight? practically inexistent. regulations? Nope.

Who is the customer? All those many hispanic and uneducated customers who look at shiny packaging and cheap prices, but either have no idea about the actual product or never read the small print.

How can possibly any US manufacturer, bound by QA restrictions or labor laws, handcuffed by domestic salaries, where even minimal wage is still 100% higher than practised in these third world countries compete?

They can't and so the tableware, sock, textile, sneaker, heck even some high tech manufacturing has simply been offshored. Entire manufacturing industries simply move out, as it is so much more profitable to produce crap in China. The government is not inclined to intervene, as the Chinese profit to such an extent ,that they are able to buy our debth. As long as they do so, no US Government will ever protect the domestic workforce by implementing some minimum barriers.
Please do not misunderstand us here: we do not promote protectionism or unfair trade practises. We do promote fair competition however and a trade deficit of >300B with China alone (2008 Census) warrants as a minimum some pressure towards fair competition.

Fact is, that, while these jobs will never come back and we do operate in a global environment, the domestic manufacturing industry must get a fair deal and a fair chance to compete. It is not only about the labor force, but also the middle class of managers and supervisors who in the course of the annihilation of entire industries loose their jobs as well. it is that middle class with former buying power which was the engine of our domestic economy. These were also tax payers and consumers. Can you blame any company which rather hires an entire software development group in India than hire one local higly skilled programmer for 100k a year?

There are only so many pizza delivery jobs out there. We need huge containers for the laid off workforce. Containers, our own local energy industry could provide, if the Obama Admin allowed them to expand, build nuclear power plants, drill for oil, explore our shale oil reserves, while at the same time saving Billions of $ importing foreign oil and protecting middle east powder barrels, just to secure our supply.

The many unemployed are being abandoned and let down.

By companies who, like Gibson, swamp the US market with cheap, low quality merchandise, which is borderline unhealthy, if the FDA bothered to look a bit closer. But they simnpley take advantage of the loopholes and the leverage China currently enjoys due to the debth.
Greed and political Macchiavelism.

They are being let down by the mass retailers like Wal-Mart, almost uniquely selling this low cost merchandise with no consideration to Quality, Made IN USA, or our domestic workforce.
Greed.

They are being let down by uneducated consumers who actually buy this crap without any consideration of origin and the notion that buying "Made IN America" would actually in the long term secure their own future. These Teaparties should promote buying American goods.

Lastly they are being let down by our own government, which either spends a majority of "stimulus" money towards the unproductive sector of the economy and rather pressures mid-sized and small businesses with additional taxes and restrictions than help them grow and expand. A government, which does not recognize that in the long term our entire manufacturing industry is threatened, if it does not counteract the trade deficit with the low cost countries to at least a fair level. A Government which does not recognize our areas, where we actually could generate millions of jobs, wealth, national security and extricate ourselves from chronical war zones. We have the energy right here, a workforce willing to dig in, but the Gov puts the handcuffs on the energy industry and prevents any outright possible boom. So, on one end, the Gov hurts us by doing nothing, as far as unfair trade practises are concerned, on the other end it limits the productive sector, one the third, it spends whith no impact on the job situation so ever.
This Admin had successfully managed to "change the subject". Unemployment has become almost the Elephant in the room, nobody talks about. Every time, the newest sad unemployment statistics come out, Obama has either a talk to children or moves the topic over to Afghanistan or health care reform. Congress? Not even the Republicans seem to be willing to talk about it, as it traditionally is a democratic topic and they traditionally stand against any government interference in the job market - even, if for once it would be warranted. The result is that the many unemployed, willing to work hard and contribute are completely abandoned.

Finally on Rasmussen today, it was mentioned how this admin hurts above all the small and medium size businesses, which are predominantly responsible for creating jobs. Whereas the large corporations are leaner and will get back to profitability sooner while not hiring, the small businesses have gone under by the thousands. And more will follow, since there is no intervention by the administration in terms of lowering the burden, taxes, incentivizing start ups to hire and expand. On the contrary. The outlook is higher taxes, more burden and more bancruptcies. Where is the bailout for the silent majority? For the unemployed? Where is the bailout for small business? Where is that promised legislation to allow them to liquidate their 401ks without penalties, just to survive and pay rent, until some businesses hire again?

Well - it does not stop there:

Obama wants to spend in education? Okay - but if you do so, do it right and implement a federally regulated and mandated apprenticeship model, which so well works in Switzerland.

Have you ever wondered, why the Swiss can sell a Victorinox Army Knife for $135? And do so successfully? Well it's the quality, stupid. In Switzerland, every single butcher, welder, machinist, painter, hair-dresser, baker, mason, carpenter goes through a 4 year federally regulated education, called apprenticeship, guaranteeing the same high standard of work in Alabama or Oregon. Swiss Made means quality and trust, as the customer's know that any product is made by people who as a minimum went trough the needed and required apprenticeship. to come back to the example of the Army Knife, such a product comes with a lifetime warranty and actually lasts a lifetime.

This is why the Swiss manufacturing industry, having to compete with so many lower cost countries was not only able to survive, but to actually flourish.

America is now in the very same situation, as a 3 month's on the job training simply does not suffice anymore to justify higher prices and compete successfully, while making 70$ an hour. American workers are - to state a sad truth - not that much better educated than their Chinese counterparts. But their products sell for a lot higher prices. Yes, better factories, equipment and quality assurance results in still better product, but the Chinese are in fact catching up and, if in the US we do not invest into true added value creation, more industries will be lost to the East.

Here is an area, Obama should and can invest into a future, where Made In America means a true added value in comparison to the cheap crap we import from Asia.

There are proven and functioning templates like Switzerland out there. All we needed to do is copying a successful model. But there is no plan in that regard out there and so our recession will soon consolidate with the aforementioned structural flaw and a rapidly improving manufacturing industry far east, combined with cheap laobor we never will be able to compete with.
Creating new jobs in new technologies? Sounds great, but where are these new industries?

With a pledged investment of just about $15B into new energy, Obama was willing to focus just about 1% of the so called stimulus towards this area, where truly new jobs could be created.

America sits on the single largest Oil reserves in the world, good for another 70 years at current consumption levels.

America has the technology and a high tech workforce. 70% of the people supported drilling, nuclear and an all the above approach, the Obama Admin seems to have utterly abandoned, even though he campaigned on it and broke yet another promise. A tiny percentage of the "stimulus" went into Energy, and with Cap n' trade the entire industry will be handcuffed. But no - we rather spend hundreds of Billions on a military presence in the middle east, trying desperately to keep the boiling pot from exploding, imp-ort still 40% of our oil from the Saudis, while we would have an opportunity to create jobs, save money and lives, pay down our debth and economically recover.

A strategic energy initiative, a real vision, Plan and roadmap to get us aggressively towards full independence from foreign energy could have been the single greatest legacy project, Obama would have been remembered as on of the greats.

Gas pipelines from Alaska, water aqueducts from the north to supply the south, nuclear power, heavy incentives to roll out Solar technology in the south, exploration of shale oil in the Dakotas or Wyoming, secondary oil exploration off shore, revamping the power grid for aggressive rollout of hybrid cars, tax incentives for the supporting industries, spending , where the real productive sector could have started to grow again.

Instead of above - health care reform, union support where 70% of the people do not consider unions as strenghtening the economy, bail outs in form of symptom fighting, only prolonging the misery instead of addressing the root cause. Or does anyonoe really believe that the US automotive industry will be competitive, if a GM worker still makes $65, and a Hyundai worker makes $35 per hour? As labor cost drives any business, the gov owned companies simply do not stand a chance in the long run and further bail outs will only be the consequence.

Wait for companies like Boeing, until they off shore their manufacturing to Indonesia or India. As the third world countries - truly emerging areas - improve their workforce and supply chain, America stagnates. India has already caught up in IT, programming, Software development. Rumania, Bulgaria, Hungary to name other examples produce in the meantime a lot of programming too - for a fraction of the cost.

Other than that, no nuclear power plants, which would create top paying jobs, while decreasing the cost of electricity. No tax incentive for Solar Panels in the southern states, where single family homes would be self -sufficient in terms of electricity and save every single month real money, while decreasing the burden on the traditional power grid. No aggressive exploration of our own oil reserves, which would result in immediate jobs, while immediately reducing our need of expensive foreign oil and military engagement to keep these chronically unstable regions quiet and losing Billions and Lives in the process.

Where is the vision of this president? The legacy project? Building a water pipeline from Washington State south to CA, a 10 year Strategic Energy Initiative a la JFK's road to the moon, encompassing an aggressive pusuit on all fronts and levels towards true energy independence, where the US People would not mind spending a few hundred Billions, as this would have resulted in a real stimulus.?

Nope - Nada Zilch. The current admin neglects the single largest economy problem - Unemployment, by spending 80% of any stimulus money on the unproductive sector and engaging in costly, half baked health care initiatives. Put us back to work first, then the American People will be more than willing to share with the less fortunate. First we need to be productive again, create wealth. Then let's talk about social programs and spending.

Obama promised us 100k jobs within 90 days. He just forgot to mention, that during this period, we lost 70k jobs every single week. While China is swamping the US with cheap product, American Manufacturers, responsible for job creation went broke or are taxed and burdened to the level of having to lay off even more people.

Stop using the word Stimulus for Government spending into unprodoctive areas of the economy.
Stimulus means incentivizing business to invest and expand. Stimulus means protecting our own workers from unfair competition. 20% of our current workforce is at present unemployed! Not productive, not tax paying, not buying, not consuming. Small and medium size businesses going down by the thousands. Our own manufacturing industry eroding before our eyes.

To use an analogy: If you pay your son $50 to mow the lawn, do you create wealth for your family or an additional revenue stream? Nope.

You just shift some funds from one part of your family to another and do not improve the financial health for the whole family. When such a family is in financial trouble - what does it do? It streamlines, saves cost, reduces spending and/or looks for a second job or another additional revenue stream. The son looks for work outside and mows the lawn for free.

What is so self-evident for a single family, is common sense to all of us, can and should apply for the America.

We need to cut cost, create new revenue, and not shift wealth around from one member to another. New revenue can be created by strengthening the domestic economy, allowing them to compete on an even playfield with the low cost competition. New revenue can be created by investing and incentivizing areas with growth potential, such as the energy industry, while at the same time cutting cost by reducing our military presence abroad and reducing costly imports. Every single family would feel relief, if the monthly energy bill is lower for gas, fuel and electricity. What would be tangible to every singe one of us is sales tax relief, reduction of the monthly bills and the cost of driving to work.
Even healthcare reform to some extent, for instance legislation regarding those frivolous malpractice lawsuits which blow up the cost so much would be helpful.

We would not need to oeverhaul the entire system, but address the root cause for exploding health care bills.

But no - as the lawyers are huge supporters of Obama, such reform is of course out of the question. But true bi-partisanship, as once again promised to us by Obama and never followed through ( What a surprise!) is not an option - it would be the state of our country considered - mandatory.

It is time that this administration focuses on the single most important problem first and foremost. Unemployment.

Once the workforce is on the job again, the rest falls into place, including health care. But for right now, businesses must be helped with tax reductions, incentives to hire, protection to be competitive again, trade barriers, where other countries take advantage of us and/or the deficit is blatant. For the mid-longterm, America needs an apprenticeship program implemented, setting standards and improving our competitiveness, as Switzerland has proven that it is possible to compete, even when the cost of doing business is so much higher. Made In America must mean something again.

We, the American People have to do our part too and buy American Products, rather than just considering the price. By consuming and procuring cheap Asian Goods, we damage the future of our own children. Free trade and markets - but with a fairness treshold.

Unless this administration does not aggressively attack the situation, the vicious circle will only result in an increase of misery. Aformentioned ugly examples of companies without any honor, respect and consideration for the US workforce will become the norm and more highly educated and qualified professionals like my friend will end up becoming a burden instead of productive members of our once so great society.

I call upon the government to stop the bla bla about torture, Guantanamo, healthcare and techer's salaries and do its main job of helping to put the people back to work. Spend, where it has an immediate impact on unemployment. Spend, where it helps to make America competitive again. But do not waste time and money on projectors in universities and propaganda and address the real cold hard facts : 20% Unemployment.

I call upon Obama, to show a slither of greatness by accepting the fact the the American People do not want a complete health care overhaul at present and focus on what we truly need - addressing unemployment aggressively and giving us a vision and a plan. Take us - agressively and as promised - to energy independence. Strengthen our job market and our competitive position and see the energy sector finally as the one great potential for a true legacy project.
Do not try to be fancy or to proud to copy great templates from other countries. Copying failed health care systems or copying an apprenticeship model which has a track record of success? It is a no-brainer. Invest in education - by all means - but do it right, not just throw money at the problem. Made in America could become a trademark like made in Switzerland. It would be a long-term plan with long-term effect - but would be a legacy project nevertheless. Traditional democratic principles could actually help this country in that regard. Help small business to become the engine for growth again. Have the greatness to adopt a great (Republican) Plan of aggressively and tangibly get us to energy independence. Heck - by all means reform health care by cutting cost, adopting the pragmatic approach of blue dogs or the repubs, focusing on Tort reform, competition, reducing bureaucracy, but not introduce 1500 pages of Chinese, basically hiding the fact that you want to adopt failed health care models, other countries have long since given up. Do you realize that we need true bipartisanship, pragmatism, focus, not speeches? Do you realize that the American People are still centrist, slightly left off center and not ideologues or radicals?.

I call on the American businesses to behave ethically and professionally and treat job seekers with the respect they deserve. Do not dangle VP jobs out there, just to acquire fee consulting and save a few bucks. Honor a handshake and hard and honest work.

I call upon WalMart, Target, Bed, Bath and Beyond to sell us Made in America Products at a fair price and not just cheap Asian crap. Please consider the longterm damage you cause your own country.

I call upon my fellow Republicans to take up the cause. Do not let Obama change the subject. Revitalize John McCains Energy plan and Romneys 10 year vision. This is the sector which can turn our entire country around. We still have a window of opportunity, until the East catches up.

I call upon the American People - the single largest consumer market still - to buy American and support the American Workforce. Read the small print, buy less, but quality and put American workers back to work. By the time your sons and daughters enter the labor market, many more indstries will have gone for ever, if we do not demonstrate some level of solidarity now. Support the Strategic Energy Initiative - a true effort to make us independent from foreign oil in form of a 10 year Plan, like JFK gave us the vision of a man on the moon and followed it through. This will create jobs, will save money, and most of all will allow us to extricate ourselves from costly conflicts in lives and Dollars. We need a public outcry for jobs - not health care or any other distracting entitlement program. We need a doer in the white house who focuses on the real problems of our economy.

We need action - not ideology.

It may be too late for my friend and so many who simply can not find employment, no matter how hard they try. But at least they crash and burn in the knowledge that someone took up their cause.