Have things changed the past 5 years and 12 years? You bet they have. But all the changes have not been bad. Sometimes it's hard to see things in this light I know. But maybe we need to look at all the positive things that have happened so we can see the whole picture in a different light.
Too often people dwell upon the negative like "Almost ten percent of the people less than 2000 have work or are even looking for work!" and true facts like this. But what have we gained as a country?
First of all, families that would have been scattered to the winds (literally) are living together and taking care of each other in ways that they have to in a way like we haven't seen since The Great Depression and World War II. Some people might say this is bad but it is sort of like an animal retreating into its den and licking it's wounds. There is time to heal up and to rethink everything and to retool our minds and bodies for a different world than anyone has ever seen before. So, in this sense the whole human race is being forced to become more realistic. And yes, the changes are just too great for some. But for most of us we are taking the time now to rethink and retool and to get healthy and to re-energize ourselves for a different world than ever before. Because in the end it is as it has always been here on earth, "Adapt or die!" And many of us are learning to adapt to whatever life may bring. And this is a good thing.
For example, when I look at the welfare states of Europe since World War II it is easy for me to think, "Well. That was pretty unrealistic financially to make those choices for over 50 years in the first place. Eventually, if you look at world history at all it was inevitable that things were going to have to change to something else and now they are.
And the same is true of the United States. Even though our country has been much less of a Welfare State than most European Countries chose to be, we have been a welfare state for Corporations and that hasn't been necessarily good for the People of America. So, I think people will have to be better taken care of now by both the government and themselves to avoid some kind of very real revolution, social or otherwise. We had some inkling of this with the "Occupy Wall Street Movement" that started here in the U.S. and went worldwide. The demonstrations against Putin are the latest form of the worldwide "Occupy Movement" that one could say swept through the middle East starting with the self immolation of the Vegetable and Fruit Vendor in Tunisia because his vendor's license and cart were taken away and he could no longer support the 8 people that he was before.
Another positive thing that has happened here in the U.S. is the incredible amount of Gasoline we are no longer using. As a result of this one fact we now have stopped being a major importer of gasoline and diesel and have become instead a major exporter to the point where too much was exported from Southern California which drastically increased gasoline prices recently there.
I think during these times we need to focus on what is right with our lives and right with the world rather than just wishing for a bygone time that will never return now. Only by seeing the positives and opportunities in our lives now can we move forward as a nation and as a world and as families and individuals.
Yes. Things aren't the way they were but if we focus on what is good and even what is better about now it will give us and our children what we need to move forward in our life rather than the psychology of lack and suicide. In the end it is a choice. If life gives us lemons we either learn to make lemon pie or Lemonade or we will be found lifeless somewhere. It is up to us. What will we do?
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