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 But I can't let a blog post go unpublished!)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.