Every so often, I like to read Roger Ebert's blog in the Chicago Sun-Times. He has always been a great communicator, and reading about his new voice made me remember to pop in and have a look.
Today's blog, The Gathering Storm, really made me stop and consider the gravity of our situation. My grandparents were in Peru for the Depression and I don't have any stories about that, but I certainly knew poverty there. We left Peru for the opportunities the US could provide.
Now that the economy is undergoing this seemingly never-ending slide, I'm kind of at a loss. This is honestly something I never expected from this country, but I have the perspective of an outsider (ie, I know no one country is entitled to prosperity or made virtous because of it), and it's led me to sadly acknowledge that we, as a country are undergoing a shift in our collective paradigm and there is nothing to do but hold on tight and adjust. I've done it before--but I also see people in total denial, waiting for the 90s to come back.
I don't want to get in another discussion about Obama or Bush or the politics of it, but what I want to know is this: How has this affected your day-to-day? Anyone discovered a talent for bargain hunting? Has this just not sunk in? Do you think this has changed your worldview, the way it did for the Depression-era Americans?
Fyi, the title quote is from W.H. Auden's "Vespers".
We would rather be ruined than changed.
We would rather die in our dread
Than climb the cross of the moment
And let our illusions die.