Why run with the crowd when you can run around in circles?

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Recession, recession, recession

I keep hearing about how terrible it is. But despite living in the state with the highest unemployment rate, I simply do not see it. I don’t see long bread lines, masses of homeless lining the streets with begging signs, increased theft and looting. No long gas lines, no bare supermarket shelves, no empty mega stores. Maybe I’m lucky enough to live in a wealthy enough area that it’s simply not an issue. Or maybe, for the many, this recession simply means it’s finally time to accept that living in a five bedroom, four bath house full of gadgets, with an attached three car garage full of giant SUVs to cart around the two kids and all their toys, all of it mortgaged to the hilt on a factory worker’s salary, is simply too much stuff. Twenty years ago, the average working couple with two kids had a three bedroom house with a bathroom and a half. Everyone shared, sitting together around one TV, instead of isolated within the home, all staring at their own box and never coming out of their own bathrooms.

For quite a while now, I have wondered how long this pricey kite could stay in the air before crashing onto the sand in front of the expensive beach house. Didn’t anyone pay attention in history class? That the sure sign of a civilization about to tumble is rapid inflation along with an outward sign of increased wealth?

Everything goes in cycles. Maybe we’ve had our heyday; maybe it’s time to follow the Mayan history into obscurity, leaving behind symbols no one will understand for centuries, until someone finally decodes and reconstructs the language of text messaging.

Or maybe, if we’re really lucky, we’ll wake up and realize that the one with the most toys does not necessarily win. Those who come out ahead in the great game of life are the ones who can appreciate that time spent enjoying life's simple pleasures, such as taking a walk with the dog or your annoying little brother, far outweighs any material frivolity.