January 29, 2010
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Unemployment and a Bad Economy
I have been reading so much about how difficult it is for each of us right now. I am hearing about how unemployment is as high as everyone can remember. But tonight I was walking around the mall looking for a belt and it came to mind that we are all kind of negative and ungrateful.
If you are reading this right now, you have electricity and the Internet. Do you realize that electricity in a home is pretty new? For most of human history, there was no electricity in homes.
My dad was raised poor and he said the greatest invention of all times was the indoor toilet. He said it was terrible walking out in the dead cold of a Michigan winter just because you had to use the toilet. He said it was scary to sit down outside in an outhouse in the middle of the night.
If you can read this, you probably can walk over to the fridge and get something to eat. It may not be your first choice but it may be bread. Some child around the world is crying tonight and is hoping to find one piece of dried up bread.
Almost everyone who is reading this has a car or has a parent with a car. Almost everyone reading this has heat in their house. Almost everyone reading this has a nice bed with sheets on it. If you want water to drink, you can walk over to the sink and get water. Almost everyone reading this has a cell phone, washer and dryer.
I am not making light of the recession because it is terrible that people are without jobs and that others are paid so much less than they have ever been paid before.
But the reality is that if you are sitting at a computer right now reading this, that you have so much more than most of human history could ever dreamed of having. You are rich compared to so many others.
Maybe it is time for us to stop complaining about how difficult things are and be thankful for all that we have.
Comments (129)
amen.
yeah, i guess
Amen to that. And thanks for the reminder to be thankful.
Agreed, some of the poorest Americans have it so much better, we need to be thankful for what we do have and keep positive.
If we keep positive / hard work we will have food shelter and the pleasures.
well said.
Speak the truth.
Yes, you are right. Well posted.
Nice job Dan!
I wholeheartedly agree.
Most people would feel ashamed to make $30k a year or less, and we complain that we never have enough money. But we’re so rich. Only 2% of the world owns a car; that’s a good reminder of how fortunate we are every time we unlock our car doors. Thanks for the reminder!
Your dad is right. I’ve had to use outhouses before; I’m just grateful they were in warmer climates than Michigan in January.
Those other photos break my heart.
This is a wonderful post.
I do think it is sort of the American way because we are so rich in luxury we don’t understand going without. Not having a job, living with your parents, not paying rent, overeating out of boredom, overindulgence of electronics are all hell for us. Where as hell for someone else is not having a roof over their head or food in their stomachs is hell for them.
Because we live in the United States and we are this way I think it is your personal responsibility to educate yourself about the world and understand what you have to appreciate.
Exactly! All of us are so blessed!
great post.
Appreciation for what one has is always a task that requires a bit of effort. I think I’l walk to 7-eleven and get something to munch on.
great posts
agree
You are quite right.
Dan, it’s posts like these that remind me that you’re one of my favorites. <3
This is the best post I’ve read of yours in a long time. Very well said!
Good job, sir.
♥
I have no problem being thankful, but I have a problem with sitting still in a progressive society. If this was it- if living in a heated home with running water was the top of where I could be, that’s fine. But it’s not, and I have a problem with not having a job in a society where having a job is important.
Amen.
@LauraG0929 - I agree!
I like these kinds of posts, Dan
Dan, you are so right. I am ashamed of the way I complain. And very thankful for all my blessings. Thank you for bringing this up.
Well said. We should be thankful for what we have.
it’s all relative.
I agree… people don’t really appreciate all that they REALLY have. All that’s available, and what we have over other people in the world. I’m very guilty of this on many occasions… I get sick to my stomach if I think too much of it.
There is one car for every 11 people on this earth. Over half the worlds population has yet to receive their first phone call, let alone a cell phone. People bitch and moan about petty little things but having had the opportunity to see true poverty and dismay, gives you clarity. Not saying it makes you better by any means, but you can learn to structure priorities much better.
I cryed so much when I watched Slum Dog Millionaire, as it really brought forth an appreciation for what I do have and a sorrow for so many that don’t have the little I have.
I was quietly thinking. Damn we are so spoiled. Our exceptions of the amount of wealth that is normal or expected is just insane.
amen
that’s why I think people don’t understand that we should be helping out Haiti instead of saying we are having a hard time ourselves.
i remind myself of this every day. i can’t even bring myself to complain, and i always remind my mom when she feels overstressed and a failed parent because jobs are simply so hard to come by. we have a house- small, rented, but we can live here. we have a family unit – our father left, but mostly we’re pretty unified. we have cars – old, used, falling apart, but we own them. we DO have jobs – even if i’m just a cashier at a crappy liquor store. we have a lot to be thankful for, many, many others are not nearly as fortunate.
true that.
i definitely agree. our idea of living poor is actually very comfortable living compared to poorer countries.
I completely agree. When I feel overwhelmed by our day-to-day struggles of “living in poverty” I just remind myself of all that we have, and all that many others do not. And then I feel grateful.
Interesting point. However, just because our ancestors spent millions of years shitting in holes doesn’t make it any easier to suddenly live without our high-speed internet.
That’s the whole theme of my church’s experiment this year.
If you make more than $25,000, you are in the top 15% of wealthy people in the world.
Staggering. Sobering. Perspective-inducing.
I feel thankful for the things I have but… today people are constantly moving forward. Without progression, there is no room for growth. Savvy?
21 rec’s. Kinda says it.
Indeed! Thank-you for the reminder. :)
who are you and how did you get dan’s password?
all jesting aside. i agree. i wish i could rec this twice, one of your best posts yet.
being thankful is not enough. its time for us to start sharing what we have with the rest of the world. 2012
I was in a bind where I may not have a place to live, other than the parents and thought that would be bad. I only thought of others who had it so much worse, I feel like an idiot and very spoiled when thinking of others without water, or food, or any place to go.
dan, i never know what to say when i want to comment on your entries. usually everything i want to say has been said or is just not fun enough.
good points
Spoken like a man who has never suffered to ravages of unemployment!
Even though our culture is wealthy (thanks to American liberty and capitalism), we still have problems to deal with. Not having a job is one of the worst problems an American can have.
So, I should feel good about where I am now just because life has sucked for the majority of human history and continues to suck for the majority of humanity?
indoor plumbing, electricity, and internets doesn’t make me rich or life awesome. It just means it sucks less than it could.
Hoo-freaking-rah.
Amen
finally someone who has a solid readership blogs about this
I agree we have a lot to be thankful for. If we don’t make some noise about some things we may all be using outhouses again. I remember, since I am so advanced in age
, an outhouse we used as a back up, when the one in the house was out of order. I was a mere child, oldest of 7. Very cold during the winter. It was right by the pigpen. That’s the truth. Have a great day.
Eww poor people.
@NikBv - I would rather poop outside than not be able to message you how much you smell like cheese.
You said that so well I had to recommend.
I agree. We should vent our frustrations, but use that time to remember how lucky we are to have what we are. Everything will fall in perspective and you will truly feel grateful for what you have.
So true, even though I hate being unemployed, there are some many things I am grateful for having a family, somewhere to live, clean water to drink and food.
Indeed.
I am thankful everyday for clean water , electricity,a washing machine and my cell telephone.I do not enjoy using an outhouse but we keep ours clean and available incase we ever need it .
true
Thank you, Dan. This was amazing, and it showed how amazing you are.
It was your best post, methinks.
People forget that it would do us so much good to look at what we do have, rather than what we don’t have.
Complaining is so easy, but being appreciative is not. Problems happen, and all we have to do is be thankful for what is good, and stick it out.
heavy
We are so much more fortunate than these poor folks pictured here… this is why people fight and sneak to get into this country. I am definitely lucky to have people I can lean on, because if I were on my own I would not even have electricity or a home. I am lucky indeed to have a cushion to fall on.Thank you God for all blessings.
True. But this is nothing that has not been said before a gazillion times, pretty much verbatim. I give you an ‘E’ for effort.
Excellent post. I’ve also been irritated with people saying we’re getting it tough, when in actuality we’re still living very comfortably compared to a vast portion of the global population.
Amen!
AGREED, wholeheartedly.
you should write more of this instead of your usual …….
The people who made this country what it is didn’t see it that way. They didn’t get us here by being grateful for small things. The men and women who made America believed that they could have more. More mobility, more wealth, more convenience, more opportunities. Both for our good and the good of others whom we are privileged to help.
Our generations should also get what we can from life. Not at the expense of others, but from our own labors. Rich and poor alike should expect more from life.
Trying your hand at false analogies are you Dan? Having appreciation for your ‘things’ while you swiftly become one of the unfortunates of a third world country, in the midst of an educated society, does nothing. “Eat everything on your plate, there are starving children in India”. Exactly where is the connection here? The very reason we as a nation do well is because we have a spark of human fire, an indomitable spirit for life that refuses to submit. We don’t compare ourselves to the lower, we set the standard for the highest.
I refuse to sit idly by thanking god that I’m not some skin and bones child of a third world nation, long bereft of rational leadership and beset with evil leaders, but rather choose to fight to see that my country does not become corrupt enough to make that the norm. We have an obligation in this world, and sitting around being thankful isn’t going to do one whit to help ourselves. For those of you out of a job, like my wife and I are, use your newly found free time to educate yourselves about why we are in this present mess, and see to it we don’t ever get here again. Work for political reform, work to end lobbyist special interest, and for gods sake, elect people based on something other than whether they believe in Jesus or not.
Absolutely right!
@Da__Vinci - “We don’t compare ourselves to the lower, we set the standard for the highest.”
Agreed.
Beautiful reminder. I submitted this one to be featured. – you can go here to vote.
Your an Idiot.
The Problem isn’t so much that the Economy is Bad.
It’s That a Select group of people have made the Economy bad
For their own Self Interest.
a Utopian World was within Reach over a hundred years Ago.
Free Limitless Wireless Utterly Clean Energy
Was Discovered but It would have ended the age of Serfs and Poverty.
So Instead We Got Two World Wars.
And We Are About to Get Chaos on a Whole New Scale.
Stop Asking For So Little
And Start Demanding MUCH MUCH MORE.
-The End-
You poor brainwashed fools. you all deserve to be serfs
(And Serfs you will be)
until you realise the age of people going without ended a century ago.
Wow, this is different…
@Da__Vinci - If you want to Educate yourself
Look up the Derivates Bubble (It’s 400 Trillion and Growing)
Look up who Created it, defended it and allowed it to get big enough to destroy the entire world.
(Ending the age of Nations as we know it)
Then ask yourself why?
There-in you will understand Why we are where we are, how we got here
And Where we are going.
(Unless through some herculean effort things can be reversed at this late hour)
(but being a realist, I don’t think it can be stopped, the global financial markets and goverments are all doomed)
But The People running this game can be Caught and brought to Justice for their Crimes.
Otherwise they buy up the whole world at the end of it (For Bargain basement Prices)
And Appear for all extents and purposes, As the Saviors of Humanity.
The People who Saw through the Coming storm and Prepared themselves
To Save the Day! (Even while they planned and orchestrated it)
This Century has been nothing more then a Great Game
And the People Lost.
-thend-
not only be thankful, but share
Excellent post, Dan
That is so true. We have to be happy and satisfied with what we got, cause some people don’t have what we got in the States and in Canada. We have to pay bills for phone, tv, satellite, cellphone, heating, electricity and whatever we need but in the poorer countries people have nothing. Not even a fast food restaurant unless there is one but they still won’t be able to afford it. They are a lot worst than people who live in North America. I am not rich, but we do get by.We get help from the governments here.
@Da__Vinci - Agreed
@ShimmerBodyCream - That’s very kind of you to say.
right on!
youre right, thanks for the reminder, Dan
amen; agreement here
“Maybe it is time for us to stop complaining about how difficult things are and be thankful for all that we have.”
AMEN. I have to remind myself of that daily. I remember when I didn’t have a job, I was finding ways that I could use the extra time granted to me. It was fantastic, acutally. I miss the extra time that came with being unemployed, but I don’t miss not having money.
I feel like sometimes God doesn’t move you to something better until you are grateful for and utilize what you have now. It might not be as much as you want to have, but it is certainly more than it could be. Nothing is ever as bad as it could be. Even if it is, we should still live with an attitude of gratitude. You end up with a headache if you aren’t, and your situation STILL hasn’t improved.
I think this might be the first of yours i’ve rec’d. Keep it in perspective. Good reminder.
I completly agree….. great blog
All thing considered, I have it made in the shade, and you will never hear me saying otherwise! (at least not in recent memory, have I done that). Health is the most important thing for those who do not have it, or a diagnosis, or something that can treat it, it can consume everything.
I’m sure so many adore this sentiment of a reminder to be grateful when times are tough- in fact the majority maybe, but to me this smacks also of being grateful for a punch in the nose and then a shove down a flight of stairs and then say “Thank you sir, may I have another.”
It is a cardinal desire to obtain MORE of whatever. and thus to someone saying I’ve had enough…or is grateful for what they have, it might be easily miscontrued as a cardinal sin or wonton laziness. Hence, even on the smallest of fronts, if I invite others over to my home, I’m ever aware that how they view my home is a reflection in what they have (and if I’m grateful for less than what they have?….bring on the dismissmal gestures and words, slights meant or just automatic)
duh, if I have what I need- I am grateful. duh, if someone helps me-however obvious that all forms of 4 for the Japanese thank you express a level of humiliation- and yet the american’s find it the HEIGHT of manners….hmn…bugger for the Japanese…that maybe the Japanese have it right all along, that even within thank you there is an admission of loss of pride….a very great commodity indeed….andeveryone must first LOSE in life enough waiting for their chance to win…but again no wonder the ever best selling bible-whether one believes or not- even to says its better to give than recieve…and for all of that and back to the point even when I recieve I’m grateful… but gee, the very word seems to have it built into its means that it first GRATES. hence my above belief that yes, one should be grate for all they manage even in failing the whole game of life – there is that gratefulness to even have been allowed to play…one should be very grateful indeed, but better to be discontent forever working striving clawing for MORE.
Being grateful GRATES.
@And_I_love -
yay for happiness and shade!
Thanks for this post. You have exressed what many of us know but don’t think about as often as we ought to.
Probably 95% of Americans live better than much of the rest of the world, so why do we complain so much. Those who can afford material luxuries in the US are never satisfied with them, and many who cannot afford material luxuries think more stuff will make them happier.
In many nations that are poorer than the US, with no iPods, TV’s, and refrigerators, if they have decent food and a place to live, they can be content.
I think that is part of what we have lost in the US, contentment with our lives.
And I think part of that is because everywhere we go there are ads trying to tell us our life is not complete until we buy this or that thing or gadget, eat this or that food, or watch this or that show.
Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass.
It’s about learning to dance in the rain.
amen to that.
i’m poor but i don’t tell the whole world. hell, we barely got dsl this year before that we had dial up since 03. hahaha.
hell, i’m just glad we have a home. some people don’t even have that.
xo
Yes. Thank you for posting this.
amen!
I agree. Things will get better. Things could be worse.
Im actually a homeless person sitting in a library computer…just kidding! Im on my cell.
amen.
Spot on. My problem with our country right now are the ridiculous costs of higher education and health care. But everything else… I find people could be more grateful for all we do have. It could of been the Great Depression… but it’s not.
You are of course correct, Dan. As bad as things are, we still have much to be grateful for.
Amazing post, quickly put my complaining about current work/ money situations to rest… We all should really be thankful for what we do have.
thank u sooo much, i try not to complain,but to b honest-i sometimes do. i should spend more time being fully grateful. i shall try to b more mindful . thanks and blessings….austin
God bless
Yes, people should be grateful for what they DO have.
Very nice post. Maybe the answer is somewhere inbetween. Perhaps if we were more disciplined in the appreciation of what things we have, we wouldn’t have constantly put ourselves into debt, or negate our ability to have savings for when times get thinner, trying to get the latest gadget and gear. Maybe, also, we would have appreciated more the person who hand crafts something, or is counting on us stopping through their shop and paying an extra nickle or two so they can make their own living. Maybe we’d be outside more enjoying a world that we can usually escape from when the weather gets rough. Maybe if we relinquished our gimme gimme ways, we would hold our country more accountable for it’s wrecklessness towards itself and the rest of the world.
So true. Excellent post.
so true dan… so true. thanks for the reminder.
Well said. Good reminder.
My grandfather on my mother’s side hated indoor plumbing. My mother told me he used an outhouse all the time. He said that bathrooms belonged outside. When they are inside too many germs are spread.
For most of history, there was no toilet paper, either.
great post, sir.
It is possible to be thankful for what you do have, and also still realize that there is more that you need. And, it is possible to do both of these, while also being aware of and saddened about the state of quite a lot of the rest of the world who is not nearly so fortunate.
I agree, I don’t feel like people are positive anymore. Like, people don’t just smile at each other anymore, or they aren’t thankful for the little things. It’s really bad: (
I love this post. I wish more people would realize how good we have it.
You said it perfectly
we should be thankfull, but that doesn’t scare people into voting you into office, that doesn’t scare people into letting you achieve a political agenda. So therefor President Obama, and the people who unfortunatly have the best podium to broadcast a postive message, will never do it.
Excellent post.
@Shades0f_Grey - Exactly. I want to think I know how it feels. Compared to most Americans, I definitely had less, but I never had to go without food or shelter. This is one of the reasons I’m going to join the Peace Corps. Despite trying not to, even I get caught up in the hedonic treadmill (that is, no matter what you have, you eventually get used to it and want something ‘better’). One great aspect about doing the Peace Corps is you live exactly as those you are trying to help out of poverty. You gain a true understanding because you live it and you begin to grasp it in a way that no book could ever teach you.
@jaydedheart - You know, now that you mention it, this is very true. But how do you do that? How do you tell an entire society that is usually thriving off of consumerism and (let’s face it) greed to just stop being that way and focus on what they do have? Sadly, even more people would lose their jobs because industries that thrive off of want would collapse.
Actually, that is slowly happening right now, anyway. Companies have to become leaner, more efficient and offer a better product (or at least better priced) to stay in business. Maybe all this hardship is a way to weed out some ridiculous extravagances and maybe teach us a lesson about what really matters in this life.
It’s beyond that time.
It’s time to work with your friends and family to make sure that everyone’s basic needs are being met.
I agree with the premise that we have much to be thankful for, but I think there’s a bit more to be said. I wrote a long comment, but realized that it was too long, and have posted it separately instead.
Thank you for the inspiration.
@maneatingsalmon - That’s a fair point, and i think to make things better they will have to get worse, anyhow. Because we are going to have to break ties with certain ways of business being done that will make for lumps in the road. The difference is, that the slide will probably not be as far, nor nearly as lasting. And the recovery will be more permanent because we’ll have a stronger structural foundation to the way we live. And out of that, you’ll have a return of competition and a better balance of salary. Creation of the individual will start to come back to country, especially when people appreciate more what’s directly around them. The appreciation of basic resources is something that we really abandoned in the technological rush.
Quite true.
Agree!
True. It’s good to have people writing these stuffs.
@Da__Vinci - ”Work for political reform, work to end lobbyist special interest, and for gods sake, elect people based on something other than whether they believe in Jesus or not.”
AMEN!! Very well said.
The conquerer goes out to conquer on his white horse, and meanwhile we question the goodness of God and very likely He questions our reading comprehension.
*claps* i so agree with you! be thankful what you have in life…
Seeing as how I remember what it was like to not have electricity, running water, an indoor toilet, or heck, even an outhouse for that matter, I never thought much about this recession. Granted, I don’t have a job right now, and it’s been a year since I graduated, I’m not complaining too badly. I found a job for the summer that paid well and has helped me paid off half of my school loans, as well as giving me the freedom to not have to depend on my parents for everything.
Many people who complained on here have always baffled me since it’s obvious they somehow managed to get internet connection!
Great post Dan!
We all should be thankful.