ddickinson: Be sure to let me know which game you would like in case you are one of the lucky winners.

Tarnicus: My mother kicked me out of home on Christmas eve when I was 19. She ironically couldn't handle my drinking. Pot. Kettle. Black. I had $35 to my name, no life experience, no job and a lot of pain and a lack of understanding of it. Fortunately friends that I drank with took me in. At one stage we had 14 people living in a 3 bedroom house. I just wanted to die. What was the point of life? No love, no money, no support, constant pressure that I was "bad" for the naive choices I had made. At every stage where I was in a situation where I had the opportunity to die, love saved me. Love from strangers, animals from an unseen force that I felt strongly. I am the luckiest person I know. I am always taken care of but it is challenging to have this in the forefront of one's mind with so much struggle and adversity.

I did what I could to find joy, motivation and not give up on life. Love is the healing force of the universe. Those who are unable to see it, feel it or find it in it's many forms(I consider the sun shining to be a form of love, just as I do when the birds come to my balcony every morning to ask for food and cheer me up with their songs) have the most difficult time out of any I have met. So why is there all this focus on earning money (differs from "work") in environments that are totally devoid of love? (time to bring it back to unemployment lol)

We currently live in a world where there has never been such an inequity in the distribution of wealth. The basis of all wealth is the fallacious concept of land ownership(it can only be occupied and used, never 'owned') and all wealth derives from that. Sorry I do not have the time to write an economics essay so my apologies to those who do not understand what I mean by that nor do I have references on hand to point others in the direction of that concept. Use a search engine <3

We live in a world where we are willing slaves to sell our labour short in order to keep a very small minority insanely rich. We are taught that through hard work we can make it too. This is complete bullshit. This way of human existence is unsustainable. Money has no intrinsic value, it is merely a means of exchange with no value in itself. We are heading towards a global economic collapse and this is constantly being propped up by band-aid measures. Our species cannot continue to live this way without a collapse. It isn't a matter of if but when.

How would you live in an interdependent specialised society with skills that have very little application to survival if your way of life vanished now? Can you source your own food, water, shelter etc? In the Great Depression(something I have researched extensively) people grew food and knew how to find it. People went bush and built squats. People had a far greater understanding of nature and life and how to survive. Community and family existed in a way then that has since been fractured for many. These days it is far more of an "everyone for themselves" mentality.

How can I live freely as a being when I am not allowed to "trespass" or live where I choose or source or share food without breaking so many stupid laws that are merely there to protect the interests of the elite? Why is law applied differently based upon wealth? (my reason for ceasing my legal studies, too much injustice in the legal systems worldwide) If I simply wish to "be" and live, why is there a threat of force if I choose that path?

I am fortunate to currently be taken care of financially through a disability pension but the way this country is heading, that won't last. I can survive myself without money, I have no doubts about that and have spent the past 8 years learning anything and everything I can about survival - sourcing water, food, building shelter and tools, learning the land, medicines, combat, networking with the community here and elsewhere, etc. My greatest concern is my dependents (animals in particular).

So fellow unemployed people(I manage to get some casual gardening work illegally as is the most common form of labouring where I live as it suits the employer best due to the extra costs of doing it legally, so I have no history of official paid work since the year 2000) I would like to say this:

1/ You are not the problem in this world, no matter what others tell you. The most generous people I have ever met are always poor and are often willing to help. The poor are the majority in this world.

2/ Try your best to find joy and motivation as being poor and unemployed has enough challenges without adding the judgement of others to your burden

3/ If any of this resonates with you and you want some basic tips on survival knowledge, PM me

4/ Love (as is being shown by this giveaway) is the answer. People do care, especially once they get an understanding of what your hardships have been like, even if you have not found people who care.

5/ Find your own path in life and do what feels right no matter what anyone else says and whether it is paid or not. That is the key to finding a place of belonging and finding some form of validation. The universe rewards those who give <3 Give your labour to those who reward you for doing so, even if that payment is a 'thank you' or smile or cup of tea. Remember money is only one means of energetic exchange.

wolfsrain: Not in, though next month i'll be out of job again. Somehow, i'm glad that it happens, as it's a bad workplace. And my salary was lower than the janitor's...:(

I did translation from english and french, created the product description, made some sys admin, maintained that company's site. The janitor for 4 working hours gets the same salary plus lunch tickets....Lovely....Things are nice in my country...The company has most of the employees from the relatives and the friends of the owner, with very few outsiders. The outsiders are poorly paid, poorly treated.

Lifthrasil: Now this is a very nice and considerate giveaway. Thank you, ddickinson! Luckily I don't meet the criterion to enter. Good luck to everyone who does, both with winning and more importantly with not fulfilling the criterion any more as soon as possible!

ddickinson: This is the first giveaway I have hosted where people are actually happy not to be able to enter :).

Reading the comments on here, it's wonderful to see what a caring and thoughtful community there is here on GOG. A big thank you to all of you that have left a nice comment, and especially the kind members who are contributing extra prizes.

Good luck to those entering the giveaway!

dedoporno: I hope someday there will be a giveaway for the "happily employed" where all participants from this one will be qualified to enter once more :)