I am foraying into uncharted territory here.   Being an amateur historian, in addition to the many other interests in which I am not proficient,  I feel compelled to try and at least add a little historical perspective.   Frankly, I am angry.   Everytime I turn on the radio or open a newspaper, I am either greeted with a story about A-Rod’s steroid use (which frankly is not front page news) or another overwrought description of our economic problems.   ‘Recession’ isn’t good enough.   ‘Downturn’ is unromantic.   No.  We have to throw words around like Catastrophe.   Crisis.    Disaster.    Good for ratings and apparently pretty good for powergrabbers in Washington.

An unnamed political operative in a major political party recently was quoted as having said “you never want a good crisis to go to waste”.    A pox on his mansion!    That mentality is precisely what should give us all pause to question what we are being spoon fed.   The media and politicians are like Chicken Little, except I note, they are Chicken Little with a Big Agenda.   Lets face facts.    The Great Depression was a crisis.   The Tsunami that killed an estimated 250,000 after Christmas in 2004 was a catastrophe.    Michael Jackson’s life is a disaster.   (Ok, not a disaster, just painful to watch)   But the point is, we need some perspective.   To run around ascribing our present difficulties as catastrophic does great disservice to those of us who are trying to get through life as best they can in difficult times.     Some parts of the country are having severe unemployment, while others are wondering what the fuss is about.     Many of us in the middle have seen our incomes decline, our houses lose value, and we are having to do with a bit less, or a lot less.   

Unemployment is at 7.6% and climbing, but lets remember that most economists consider “full employment” (those that want to work) at about 4% unemployment or 96% employed.   Today in our “crisis”….92.4% of Americans are working.    Huh?   Where’s that in the headlines?     That fact does not make it easier for those unemployed, but it does put the problem in a different perspective.     More perspective?   Unemployment during the Depression was at 25% and more.   When Mr Carter was President in 1980, unemployment was over 14%, interest rates and inflation were racing for 20%.   Since then we have weathered two more recessions and an S&L collapse, not to mention the 1987 Stock market crash, and a couple of wars.      Here’s some more perspective.    Hurrican Katrina displaced a city and killed 1,100 people.     The Tsunami of 2004 killed 250,000 and displaced half a continent.   Does anyone really want to make that comparison?   

In our personal lives, some of us got divorces, some got sick and recovered, some lost family members.    Life comes with adversity.   It is not advertised to be different, and our expectations should not be falsely encumbered with visions of sugarplums dancing on our 401K’s.   In the words of a wise philosopher, $#%@ happens.

And now, we are warned that we are facing an imminent economic catastrophe.   Are we really?    Aren’t Americans capable of reaching out to one another in hard times?    Isn’t that what we do?     Doesn’t history teach us that we can recover from whatever life throws at us?    That, in the words of Dr King, we shall overcome?    Do you realize that we endured a Civil War that killed 2% of our population, the Great Depression and 2 World Wars (and countless bad Presidents) in the span of one lifetime?    Do any of our present troubles come even CLOSE?     And if they did, how does panic help?

When did we become so susceptible to fear…..when did we lose our confidence in ourselves and in a power greater than ourselves?   

Life has hardships and ups and downs.   We have all been caught in troubles, whether financial, emotional, or physical.    And we will again.    Whom does it profit to display us at our worst?  To portray us as though we are incapable of rising above our circumstances?      If we can be convinced that we are powerless and that we should fear the future instead of looking forward with hope and faith, then we are ripe for tyranny.

Be careful whom you believe.   Evaluate what you are being told you must give up in order to persevere.    We will get through this together, and sometimes separately, because that is what we have always done.   Encourage one another and tell them not to believe the words they hear coming out of the mouths of those who believe you don’t have what it takes.    Who would bully you with fear tactics and crisis mongering.  Don’t drink that Koolaid and don’t let the government or the media tell you otherwise and fleece you in the name of “not letting a good crisis go to waste”.

And the next time you see Chicken Little, introduce him to the Colonel.

Courtesy of my brother in law, Paul Fricke, I have become a fan of a wild-haired, beanpole of a Texas gospel music phenomenon named David Crowder.   2 years ago or so, when visiting family in Madison, Paul started playing me some of Crowder’s material.   At first, I sort of didn’t get it.  I mean, the music wasn’t bad, but I am old.  So I figured I was missing the appeal of what I thought were various repeating versions of “E” chords.   Lyrics were good but I wasn’t sparked.    You gotta see this guy to believe him, he really does look like a wild eyed crazie in some of his photos.   Over time, I started to find myself humming melody lines and wondering where they were coming from.   Or a lyrical snippet was sneaking around in my brain.   And I realized there was more than E chords to DC.   

I ended up looking forward to seeing him when I found out (courtesy of lovely wife Sandi) that he was coming to town.   We got floor tickets which were GA and required us to stand outside for about an hour before being seated, but then we were just a few rows back and center stage, so I knew at least we were going to be able to discern him from the rest of the band by more than just altitude.    After some pretty good “openers” (three as I recall), Crowder’s band came out.   And lit the whole place up!   Big time!   From the opening to the encore, from some pretty fine drumwork from Bwack and electric violin from Mike Hogan, and the rest of the players giving it all up for about 90 minutes, it was outstanding.   Lots of creativity, rock and even some bluegrass.  Memorable was the bandmember who made a contraption from the Guitar from Guitar Hero and put it in Crowder’s hands for a rollicking and fun treatment of one song.   What a riot!   He knows how to shake the house and the spirit was as sweet as it was superb.   I have the Remedy CD which includes the DVD and I highly recommend it if you are looking for an amazing collection of live and recorded gospel music.

But don’t miss him when he comes back to town!    Great stuff!   G’head….try and keep your feets from moving!

I am amazed at how inefficient I have become.  I thought I was a pretty good multi tasker.  Pre-computer, I kept a legal pad on a clipboard nearby and had a system whereby I put a small date on the bottom of each page and wrote notes of things on the days I needed to accomplish.   I would draw a line through the item when it was completed, and add more items as they occurred to me.   Usually after a phone call, or an idea, or after I noticed something, I would make the note and then I would resume my process of piling through the list of things.   This note had a name and phone number and a one or two word instruction.   My desk had paperwork sorted…..sort of vertically fanned downward from top to bottom.   These were pending and working items.   A living breathing system of piles and notes, and I could easily see what I had accomplished and what was waiting for me.   It was a good system.  

Then computers came to save us from paper.   HA!   Email, text messaging, Twitter, cellphone, homephone, extra email addresses, Facebook, MySpace, My GOD!   Suddenly the excrement has hit the oscillator!   I don’t know what happened, but my desk regularly looks like a bomb hit it.   There are sticky notes with phone numbers I don’t recognize and encrypted notes that the CIA would not be able to disentangle.   Flyers, folders, business cards, receipts, notes.   I am looking at a scrap of paper at this writing that has a phone number, the words 3 kids, and the number 246.   Can someone help?  

I didn’t used to be like this.   But the problem is too much incoming.   Too many sources to review, catalog, disseminate, order and it changes constantly.   Email alone is a source of endless distraction.   I get up in the morning and I sit down to “check email”……next thing I know I am heading off in three different directions at once, responding, making notes, thinking and I find that an hour has passed and I am still sitting in my………well…….you get the idea (don’t bother with the picture).    And my desk gets worse.   Fortunately, its all ‘contained’…….I don’t delete email unless its spam and I know that everything that I need is “somewhere”………either on my desk, or in my email.   That is some small comfort.   It is the only thing that keeps me from complete madness.   I know that I can lasso the thing if I spend about 26 uninterrupted hours putting everything in order, deleting the unneeded emails so that I can find more easily what I need, and making another promise to myself that nothing gets written down on a scrap of paper without leaving clues to decode it later.   I know I can do this, because every 2-3 weeks, I do it and return my world back to some kind of order.    Then sigh.  And begin again.

But I miss my legal pad.