I’m so lost! Every television news channels, newspaper and talk radio show keeps saying, “This is the worst recession since the Great Depression! Unemployment has reached 20% in parts of South Carolina and the Stock Market rocks so much it should be renamed California or become a future member of Cleveland’s Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame.”
How can we be in a recession when New Moon has raked in over $400 million in two weeks?
How can we be in a recession when home spun art galleries in mountain towns so tiny they aren’t found on a road map are trying to push their collections out the door at Big City famously known Wentworth Gallery prices?
How can we be in a recession when Lowes Home Improvement is selling inflatable yard art for eighty bucks and above?
Where is the recession when restaurants have two hour long waiting lists?
If this is the worst it’s been in sixty years, please tell me how a bowling alley in Uptown Charlotte can charge $45 an hour for a dimly lit neon tainted blue light enhanced lane plus shoe rentals.
Who’s crying wolf? If these aren’t the worst of times isn’t the end result of the game going to be total numbness toward reality?
I know! Things are things so bad that selling just one item at an astronomical price is all that’s required to pay this month’s rent? Sell two and we’ve entered a new decade with the left foot in front of the other. Why work twice as hard if showing up for half the job is all that’s required?
Where are we in the recession game?
Gas prices are hanging around $2.50 which used to be a panic button. I remember feeling tremendous amounts of fear the first time it crossed the two buck bucket. The lines were long and stations couldn’t keep enough fuel in their veins because getting gas for a $1.99 a gallon seemed like the smart thing. Today…it’s just another day.
Kind of like Christmas shopping—I got 50% off a discontinued completely returned item. Meaning I bought another person’s trash. I got what others didn’t want. Its nothing new to me…growing up on Ryan Ave in Billings, Montana set me up to never expect or be jealous of what other’s collect.
The recession is reason to party for hobo’s and the homeless—suddenly there are more that can relate with their daily plight. I don’t mean it in a negative way! It's a lesson in life. Like my sister Susan said, “When you’ve been to hell you don’t want to go back, so you spend the rest of your life teaching people how to keep it going when the heart begs you to slow down or stop.”
Although we can’t physically see it, more American’s are beginning to relate with the distant freight train whistles heard when my mother’s parents fought to survive in the depths of a cold winter nights buried below eight foot snow drifts in Gillette, Wyoming. You can see a photo of my Grandmother and know she took on a hard life and won.
Today…I’m deeply bothered by the cameras eye connected to a child’s look into an unknown Christmas future—they aren’t real. Pajamas aren’t supposed to be nicely pressed. Christmas trees shouldn’t feature LED lighting and love from within isn’t a forced frown…there's always hope in troubling times and hope cannot be found in makeup. It shines like a white dove ice skating across a morning sunrise.
Dad always said, “We may not have money for Christmas but I won’t start off a new year letting people know it. You will march into that bathroom and wash your face and hands. You will put on clean clothes that aren’t ripped and wear your best shoes. Having no money doesn’t mean you are poor…I refuse to let my children be anything but rich in spirit.”
Times may have been tough as seen through the rounded curves in our eyes but the physical display of who we were as a family stood out because we were knitted with strength and unstoppable togetherness.
Hollywood actor Foster Brooks is the greatest fake drunk ever created. His secret to collecting billions of laughs wasn’t a bottle of booze but a better view of what a real alcoholic delivers to an unknowing public. His entire display was fed by a desire to be a a drunk that acted sober not intoxicated. Although I hated it, Mom made us watch Dean Martin with his fancy martini slurping…in looking back at the classic episodes, I refuse to believe he had lost control on national television but instead borrowed from Mr. Brooks the art of trying to be normal when the soul is off playing other games.
Through acting those living life on this side of the television screen believe it’s totally forgiving to let go and stop trying. Being drunk, drugged up, a constant nag to family members or dirt poor and always begging for a handout has become what we expect from every dysfunctional gathering. It’s like Peter on The Family Guy when a doctor told him that he was mentally challenged…he took it to heart and made sure he profited from being described as such. I have a challenged brother and to this very moment I’ve never seen him use it to benefit his chapters. In his presentation he’s normal and should be accepted as such or he’ll take you on.
Think about it…as displayed in the new film Precious…the visibly poor family made sure they reached out of their circle to come across needy, they set their appearance and verbal presentation up to gain access to government support. I believe in Welfare because it has the power to keep you off the street but it can’t be turned into a career.
I wish the words of reassurance could float from these fingertips by way of softly singing that everything is going to be ok…but I’m extremely confused. If we are a single nation buried in the perils of a heart wrenching recession have we been warmed by personal and private struggles to become a stronger people or does seeing a lack of unconditional love from stores connected to it’s makers and craftsman make those wandering around this holiday season feel numb about having nothing to spend?
Are we are or are we not in a recession? I totally get the game! If you can’t see it…it doesn’t exist. If you don’t act like your poor it’s like being rich. We are drunk on American Culture but nobody acts anything less than normal so businesses feel no need to sell anything less than expensive.
There shall be no recession until the government creates a program that gives your children cash for their clunker toys.
Totally confused? Me too...
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
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