While sitting in church before the pastor was to take the podium, members of the congregation discussed the state of our economy. My generation graduating college has learned the opportunities in our fields of study simply aren’t available. And let’s call it for what it is, economic times such as ours create an “employer’s market.” Even if you are fortunate enough to get a job in your chosen field it will typically be a drastic cut in expected salary and benefits, as companies struggle to keep operational costs down. Productivity, innovation and overall prosperity suffer as a result. Economists predict the situation will get worse before it gets better and have no real estimate of when substantial economic growth will happen. For us, this is not encouraging news. This was the topic on our minds at church and on the minds of everyone across our nation.
I have been told for years by my elders that we, the younger generation, have had it too easy. We have, as a society, forgotten what a real trade based economic system means. Again, this term was mention by our church elders. The term trade based economy seemed generic enough, surly I had heard of it in college and written an essay or something on it. I quickly start to click away at my smart phone to look it up but was immediately informed by my uncle, that I would not learn about trade based economy from my tiny magic toy. Feeling more than slightly belittled, I put away my tiny magic toy and listened as my uncle and grand father explained their definition of trade based economy to the church members. As they spoke in the rear of our small church, the entire congregation formed around them.
Paraphrasing, trade based economy is defined very differently by people who are starving than it is by economists. When I think of the great depression I see the image of a Nebraska farm house that appears as if was built in the middle of a desert with tumbleweeds rolling by. I thought of my tiny magic toy as well as all of my tiny magic things and shuddered at the thought of no longer having them. Without rehashing the history books, the great depression was simply the closest America has ever come to becoming a third world country. Our elders explained that even with terrorism, war and environmental challenges; economic collapse has always been America’s only natural predator. And it has stalked us like a hungry beast since we became a nation.
The people of this time did not survive by crunching numbers, analyzing stock market trends or even borrowing from China. They bonded together as a community and relied upon their own skills and talents to help each other. I looked behind me to the long table in the foyer covered with farm fresh produce, eggs, my mother’s homemade quilts and various tools and small appliances. I began to understand.
Countless times that year I had placed my name in a book that sat on a stand at the doorway to volunteer my time to the church. I helped repair roofs, deliver home cooked meals to the elderly in deep rural areas, and cut more grass than I ever had as a kid. I felt I had a real grasp of trade based economy. Then I thought of hurricane Katrina.
Katrina cut a deep scar across communities, cities and townships from the coast and beyond where I live in Mississippi. Even now, eight years later, those scars can still be seen. Many people lost their lives and many of the lost were never found.
The people of my little church came together as a community to help others devastated by the storm with humility and smiling faces. What occurred to me as we listened intently to our elders was that during that time, although hard hit, none of us were without clean water, fresh food, or electricity. The foyer of our little church was stacked to the ceiling with supplies. I had signed the list to volunteer to deliver the food, water and generators to each of the homes on a specified route. The only thing we asked in return was anything that family could spare to help their neighbor even if all they could spare was their time.
We soon realized all of the pastor’s time had gone by. He had sat among us as well to listen to the elders speak. After our unique church service, we all hugged said our farewells and went our separate ways. I realized then that we would be okay. As the economists crunch their numbers and our government weans itself off foreign financing we, as a community, will survive as we always have. I can’t help but to wonder how different our nation would be if real trade based economy as defined by our elders was the official economic system.
Read more at http://fullofknowledge.com/lifestyle-2/how-to-live-in-a-weakening-economy/#hG0Zx3gJaPIu2w07.99
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