Reality Check - Economic Hard Times?

The economy now dominates the airwaves. None of us can escape the gloomy outlook, news of loss and failure, inflammatory reports of bonuses doled out to undeserving individuals. The media is in a feeding frenzy.

Yes, it's bad, but not that bad for most people. We'll pull through. The human race after all survived the Dark Ages. And those who lived through the Great Depression knew about hardship. Back then, poor really meant poor - these folks had absolutely nothing, and not because they got in over their heads out of greed. We don't see massess lining up for food staples like refugees. The parking lots of Wal Mart and Target are full. Cars still line up at fast food drive-thrus, and luxury items are not being rationed.

Recently, we've been bombarded with sob stories, some of them genuine, but others trivial. For example, one family were forced to cut back on dinner out. This hardly constitutes suffering; a lot of people can't afford to eat at a restaurant. For many households this is, and has always been, a rare treat. Journalists need a reality check. People in the early 1930's faced starvation. They had no support, no safety net; no credit card. They really were on their own. What about the war-time rations of the forties? And how about the seventies recession? Let's put things in perspective.

So now we have the pampered 'nouveau poor' who own big-screen TV's, SUV's and countless unnecessary gadgets - those used to having it all, but forced to give some of it up. Join the club, half the world's population has to live on the bare minimum. We hear stories of people who made high six figure incomes just a year ago having to make do on a 'real' paycheck. The media seems to think this will elicit mass sympathy. Get real. These poor lambs had a ball on their yachts, drove fast cars and lazed on exotic beaches, while you were trying to scrape by on $12 an hour. Did these privileged few think of the impoverished many as they sipped expensive champagne? Did the news cover your hard times back then? How many people have subsisted on minimum wage for decades?

Citizens, previously encouraged to engage in rampant consumerism, are now objects of pity - submerged in credit card debt, unable to make mortgage payments on a home that was far beyond their means. When will someone mention personal responsibility? Yes people are struggling - but then some people have always struggled and it's only now, when the previously wealthy are starting to feel the pinch, that poverty is being highlighted. Usually the 'poor' are only given a mandatory, condescending glance at Thanksgiving and Christmas - the only time of year when the well off are supposed to feel generous. Now with more joining their ranks it's a different story.

Many people couldn't find decent jobs even in those elusive 'good times' and have had to forego such luxuries as health insurance and dental visits for years. You see the effects every day in areas like the Southern Appalachians. Freelancers and small business owners struggle constantly to keep their heads above water, as do people existing on the pittance they call minimum wage. It's been a recession in many households for quite some time. Ordinary people may not even notice a difference right now - all those 'even in good times' poor.

So to everyone out there genuinely struggling - things will turn around, as they always do, just keep the faith. But please, when things improve for you and others; don't forget those afflicted with real, lasting poverty - the poor who are "always with you," as Jesus once said.