Betty

Maybe those of us who are still employed should hire
any willing friends to help us with stuff. Like I am
rearranging my furniture again,and could do it all by myself,
I will ask the one local person I know who's been laid off
if i can hire him for a day, that way I could slip him some money
that wont interfere with his unemployment benefits.

Sure it might not do much to stem the tide of what has been
happening all over the world and in this country
but that is exactly how people have ridden out tough times
before. It is terrible what has been happening, but
i'm not sure what good it does to say "it's gonna get a lot
worse before it gets better. " Yeah, probably, but when isn't
that true - until things do actually get better and then
people will still talk about how awful everything is, that's
human nature, or at least modern American nature. Not that I
don't complain and vent about frustrating circumstances when
they occur to me or people I know, or strangers, of course I do...
But it just seems like off and on over the years most of us have
faced tough times and had some good times. I just dont remember
everyone talking like it's-the -end-of-the-world-
we're-irrevocably- doomed
no-matter-what so much before, and there have always been some people still spending
their money and paying bills

and some people working hard for very little money
and some people putting a lot of effort into not working,
and getting their needs met by those who are working,
and some people getting by on sporadic work
and some people just have enough cash flow from inherited or earned wealth
not to work much if at all. And every imaginable lifestyle in between,
and those who dont even fit any of those catagories.
Maybe I am kidding myself and none of us will be able to do
anythng but carry buckets of rubles down to the fish market
and stand in line there, for the rest of our miserable lives,
...but even so, for the time being what does it accomplish to talk like that?
If you're making preparations to cope, or help others cope, then I'm all about that discussion.
If you just want to convince me that "two thirds of the world's
money is GONE but it was on paper anyway, but still
we havent begun to feel the effects of it ....yet...."
Fine, I'm convinced that all is lost, now what? Life is stressful
for most people in any times, what do we do about it?
I see everyone doing pretty much the same things.
Trying to work and be healthy and happy, or find work or
address health/ mental health issues.
I've always seen lots of people struggling, in
all kinds of times. I've seen people prospering a lot too.




One of my employers makes it pretty easy for those of us still
working to help those who aren't, or can't. In many ways, actually,
they make it so convenient to help with money if you
dont have time, and with your time if you prefer
hands-on rather than check-writing.
And they have done that during many economic ups and downs over the years.

And the people who are unemployed recently - taking the time to look for
something else and at least see what is out there? Using some
of the extra time to do things to ease the stress on your significant others
and family members who are still working at least one full time gig?
Or there is of course the option of just curling up
in a ball and saying all is lost, nothing to be done,
it's gonna get unimaginably worse than this.... why, by the time
it gets better our way of life-as-we-know-it wont even exist any more.
Hell, I've met and spoken with so many conspiracy theorists
since President Raygun's years, this talk of what kind of
post-apocalyptic dustbowl we'll all be fighting each other for a drop of dew in,
several months hence from whatever year it is now...



I've been hearing that all my adult life and here we are. What a suprise.
You still got water to drink, and if you're reading this
you have access to the internet, which on a global scale means
you are fabulously wealthy. If I'm wrong and things aren't
going to pick up in your field, what else can you do
for now? If I'm wrong and all is really lost,
how is that any reason not to do what we can
for ourselves and each other, for however long we can?
If the last few decades have been so darn prosperous
then why has everyone been so unhappy so much of the time?
I've had a lot of laughs AND shed a lot of tears in all times, haven't you?

My dad says his dad "was taking two hundred dollars a week out
of the pinball machines during the great depression." And
that was in addition to what he was making selling drinks in his tavern.
Then Dad goes on each time he tells that, to explain how his parents
never managed the money properly, how they'd have five kinds of meat
on the table on Monday and nothing to eat on Thursday and Friday.
And during those times there were families like my mom's
where the adult children helped support their parents and each other,
and everybody worked at whatever jobs they could find.
Before the depression, in the 20s, my grandma Edythe was a young
divorcee with young kids, which was probably not unusual but was certainly
more scandalous then. I dont know if this is true,
but the story of how my mom's dad met her mom is that he, Frank, was walking down a street
on a very warm summer's day in Central Illinois, in the early 1920s and saw a woman
dragging other women out of a laundry and laying them on the sidewalk and
going back in for more. It was so hot in the laundry
building that workers were fainting. But not Edythe,
she was still conscious AND taking the passed-out women outside to get some air.
Frank went in and helped her, and then they were together
for a few years and the kids they made together were the absolute bomb,
let me tell ya. Of course Edythe
and Frank coulda just left those women to suffocate in that
blisteringly hot building and they could have spent that morning
lamenting that the economy would never recover and how much
it sucked to be working-poor in those times, but they
did what they could to help the others and they went on with their lives
as best they could. And they had a sense of humor and were well-read too. I wish I knew more about them.
Maybe I'll ask around amongst some of their relatives. Maybe you
should send me a message and tell me what you think about any topic at all.
(whether it pertains to the economy, or your grandparents, or not).

Cheers,
Betty