Ok, Who Stole the Last 2 Months???

Somehow, the time between September 1 and today, November 14, 2008 has vanished away. I've been in Hawaii, Alaska, Washington state, Nevada, California, and Michigan (no, wait, Michigan was in May...). My hubby and I are consultants in ground water and oil & gas resources, and I'm a speaker and writer on parenting and relationship issues, so we spent a lot of time drivng and flying. We prefer driving, but couldn't quite handle the Alaska/Canadian (Alcan) highway--or the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii, for that matter.

All of our travel has exposed us to the heat and beat of presidential, state, and local politics where we've been able to ponder just what's going on in this country that we love. Gas prices shot up over $4.00 a gallon and now they're down below $2 here in Utah. I watched the stock market plummet, with no real end in sight. For some reason, pundits think that the government's bailing out unsuccessful companies is the way to get us back on track.... Huh?

People keep moaning that this is the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression, and I think they're right. Hoover was tossed out and FDR took over, doing his level best to legislate and government us out of the mess that the Roaring 20s plunged us into. Just as happened then, Americans happily spent and consumed with abandon--turning away from frugality and leveraging themselves until the bubble had to burst. We've gone from saving to consuming and now we wonder why we're in a mess. But government programs failed to accomplish anything until World War II came along. I, for one, don't want to count on a bloody world conflict....

Why don't we try accepting responsibility for our actions, sacrificing for our friends and neighbors, and relying on God, without whining about fairness? The only people we can control are ourselves, individually.

I think I'll stop, now!

Corrie Lynne