Friday, November 27, 2009

A question of priorities.....

(I wrote this on Tuesday of this week, but then I never published it. But I can't let a blog post go unpublished!) I am certain this post will be viewed quite controversially. It has to do with the current economic situation and how people are temporarily adapting. Today I was reading an article on MSNBC.Com which talked about how the recession had positively changed people's lives. I couldn't help but view this article in a very cynical manner. Basically the article tells of how people made changes in their lives because they lost their jobs or their homes, etc. The people profiled all stated how much better their lives were and how they were now concentrating on their families, their faith, etc. My problem with these people is if the change coming out of the recession was so positive why did it take a recession to make you come to this viewpoint? My guess is that if they could go back to the "old ways" of doing things, they certainly would. To me it seems like a lot of what they are saying is strictly cosmetics to make them feel better about the things they have lost. In most of the profiles they talk about spending money like it was water back when they had jobs and homes. The people would buy frivilous things that they didn't require and would run up massive amounts of debt. Ok - fine and dandy, you now don't have money so you are making all these "adaptations" to make your lives feel good - going back to school, finding religion, etc. What is going to happen in another six months or a year when you still don't have a job and all the benefits have worn out. How are these people then going to feel about the situation? Why couldn't these people have thought ahead when money was plentiful for them? Why didn't they save more instead of buying silly things that they really didn't need? (I mean who really needs a power boat, an RV, etc.) I just think it is silly and it reflects the fact the America is now a post-empire country. I don't know how we as a nation think we can every recover from this downturn without a ton of sacrifice - without the loss of so many of the privileges that we think are intrinsic to our well-being. Guess what.. people had better get used to living with a lot less and get used to having a different standard of living. And the temporary patches that have been put on lives to get them through some of these dark days are going to wear out and people are going to feel even worse as they realize what our nation has squandered. I am not meaning to sound ungrateful at this time of Thanksgiving as I do not feel that way. I just wish people could learn to appreciate so much more about life before they have to face some kind of loss. Appreciate that which you have now and take some time to save for a rainy day! Thanks and peace to all! ~J.

3 comments:

tcsTenor said...

And our once prosperous country is now going broke thanks to the ninnies in the federal government who think they can run everything. :( HEL-lo! Ever heard of US Postal Service, Social Security, Medicare, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac? Those gov't run programs are broke and they had many years to fix them. Think they REALLY should be running anything else???
Robin in TX

holen1 said...

Hi Jerry,
This is my first time in responding to your comments. First, now that its in retrospect for you. Do you find yourself doing things with more thought now that you have lost your wife? Not that you would ever make the decision to live with out her, but you have walked your life and your son's for around 2 years without her.

I have found that when I lost my parents, very close friends to either death, or in one specific case - someone misunderstood something that was said and no longer wanted to be friends of mine. This has been as bad as death, because that person was my closest friend and now I have grieved over it and it has been the same effect as his dying because I no longer see him. I really miss all of these people so much and not having them in my life created a very large hole.

I have lost jobs due to downsizing, and been out of work numerous times. If I had it to do all over, I still want all those people that have had so much influence in my life for good.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that as life goes on, you become more calloused, but you start living your life with more reflection and intention. Have you seen the movie Up? I just saw it and found myself very sad for the man, I think especially because he lived much of his life without his very special person being there to share it with him. Yes, he continued life, but it wasn't the same until he decided to do something about the promises he made long ago to her about dreaming and living out life without anymore REGRETS.

He now went on an adventure that he gave up on because it was with her. I applaud you for going on with your life and having adventures with your son. Havn't you found yourself in a simular situation to these people that you are writing about? Sure you havn't lost your job, and you have been able to still afford to take trips with your son. Life continues with or without your participation. You just find that at some point that it is time to go on with life even though people and jobs are not there anymore. You pick up what you have and travel on with a different awareness then you had before. The difference is now you live life more intentional. I find myself frequently visiting the way things would have been if.... and make more out if what I have and am right now. I catch myself still just living life, but now stop and smell more, touch more, see more, hear more, etc.

As strange as it seems, it is good that I have gone through it, because life has no promises for tomarro, but you and I have had the chance to continue our walk in life and fix some of the ways we were before.

Without bumps and bruises we tend to take thing for granted. Yes, if I could go back and have those special people in my life - I definitely would! as I'm sure you would too. Since we can't have that choice, we do have the choice as to this moment how will we live going forward. As one of my favorite phrases from a motivational speaker - Zigler would say. When life gives you a bunch if lemons, what are you going to do with them?
I choose to make lemonade. I will always to the best of my ability go thru life living it more intentional than I have before...

Thank-you for your blog over the past months you have chosen to write and share your life with others.

As Willie Nelson sang in one of his songs - On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again. Playing music with my friends, etc.

Keep on bloggin' and sharing life with whoever chooses to go along with you.

Doug :)

Posey Lynn Poole said...

I teach special needs students in southern rural Georgia. I know exactly what you mean in your blog. I wonder the same things about the parents of my students. These "adults" seem to care about their own materialistic behinds than they do about the needs of the children. Just makes me mad as hell!

Well, hope you are having a good winter. It's getting colder down here in Georgia. Had to break out my fuzzy socks and buy me a Snuggie.