“Concealing shortcomings while boasting virtues defines arrogance.” Miao-lo
As people struggle to make ends meet in this recession tempers are coming more and more into the forefront. We are a small factory based town and whether or not we have jobs depends of things totally out of our control. Chrysler and General Motors’ troubles have caused lay offs in our town. They can’t pay for the parts they want us to make and we can’t afford to make parts we can’t sell. So more jobs have been cut. The big Tractor making place has cut jobs. Our local hospital has cut jobs. Stores are closing
The Lion King has a song called “The Circle of Life” that shows how we are all interconnected. What causes problems for one person causes problems another person. With all the worries about ending the day employed and not becoming a victim of the pink slips decreed from above, it is no wonder that we are seeing a huge upswing in anger. Things have never felt so completely out of out hands.
I work at the local hospital and we are in a position where we have to turn away non-essential services for people who have huge debts with us. We are a hospital and we want to help everyone we can. We are writing off huge amounts of debt for charity care. We have a lady whose job it is to try and find help for people. The Federal and State Governments are making it harder to get people help from them. It is a struggle to keep the doors open.
I was listening to an old Simon and Garfunkle song last night with the lyrics “nothing but the dead and dying in my little town.” My little town in an example of what is going on in our country now with this recession. We have one grocery store and Wal-Mart. The other store had to close because of the economy. The small shopping centers they built to try and get businesses stand empty. No one can afford to move in. We are down to one hardware store because the other closed. The owners retired and since no one wanted to try and run a small business in this little town the owners just closed shop and moved away.
The one place we can shop is Wal-Mart and that leaves us at the mercy of their prices, their lack of quality goods, their attitude. Wal-Mart is in the process of “updating” their store, which basically means they are moving stuff all over the place and good luck trying to find anything.
What I am seeing a lot of in our little town is anger. The anger is directed at little things, which then escalate into a major blow up. One of my coworkers blew up the other day because of another coworker. The arrogant one is smart enough to make sure the boss isn’t around before she starts her little mind games. My friend was angry with herself for falling into the trap but fortunately only her friends were there and we wouldn’t let the boss know she was swearing about the other woman. We live in hopes that one day this witch will go into her routine just as the boss walks in the door from a meeting and she will be out the door. The boss is watching her now as she lost a good employee because of this woman but she needs to catch her in the act before she can do something.
It still leaves a question of what can we as individuals do to help diffuse the anger? So much is out of our control. What do we do? How can we help? Where do we turn to?
In my own life I just do what I can. I gave my friend a big hug and told her I was sorry she was upset and I understood her anger. My Mom is terrified of running out of money so I checked to see if we could save money on the phone. Our cable company provides our Internet and was more then happy to give us a good deal on a package for all three. It gives Mother a little more peace of mind knowing that we are saving somewhere. At Wal-Mart we help each other find things. We are each other’s sounding boards for the frustration we feel at the torn up store. What I am noticing most is that we are more willing to smile at each other and even strangers will say hello. In this time of struggle for all of us we are reaching out and connecting with each other as humans. I don’t have a lot of money for clothes and a lot of my wardrobe was given to me by friends or from sale racks but I try and wear brighter colors and unusual jewelry. The people I work with and people who come to the hospital like that I will make the effort to look good and it brightens their day when they see the pretty colors. I dress as much to give pleasure to others as I do for myself.
I think the best thing we can do is reach out and touch someone. In these hard times a hug and a smile and a kind word is what everyone needs to help them survive.
As people struggle to make ends meet in this recession tempers are coming more and more into the forefront. We are a small factory based town and whether or not we have jobs depends of things totally out of our control. Chrysler and General Motors’ troubles have caused lay offs in our town. They can’t pay for the parts they want us to make and we can’t afford to make parts we can’t sell. So more jobs have been cut. The big Tractor making place has cut jobs. Our local hospital has cut jobs. Stores are closing
The Lion King has a song called “The Circle of Life” that shows how we are all interconnected. What causes problems for one person causes problems another person. With all the worries about ending the day employed and not becoming a victim of the pink slips decreed from above, it is no wonder that we are seeing a huge upswing in anger. Things have never felt so completely out of out hands.
I work at the local hospital and we are in a position where we have to turn away non-essential services for people who have huge debts with us. We are a hospital and we want to help everyone we can. We are writing off huge amounts of debt for charity care. We have a lady whose job it is to try and find help for people. The Federal and State Governments are making it harder to get people help from them. It is a struggle to keep the doors open.
I was listening to an old Simon and Garfunkle song last night with the lyrics “nothing but the dead and dying in my little town.” My little town in an example of what is going on in our country now with this recession. We have one grocery store and Wal-Mart. The other store had to close because of the economy. The small shopping centers they built to try and get businesses stand empty. No one can afford to move in. We are down to one hardware store because the other closed. The owners retired and since no one wanted to try and run a small business in this little town the owners just closed shop and moved away.
The one place we can shop is Wal-Mart and that leaves us at the mercy of their prices, their lack of quality goods, their attitude. Wal-Mart is in the process of “updating” their store, which basically means they are moving stuff all over the place and good luck trying to find anything.
What I am seeing a lot of in our little town is anger. The anger is directed at little things, which then escalate into a major blow up. One of my coworkers blew up the other day because of another coworker. The arrogant one is smart enough to make sure the boss isn’t around before she starts her little mind games. My friend was angry with herself for falling into the trap but fortunately only her friends were there and we wouldn’t let the boss know she was swearing about the other woman. We live in hopes that one day this witch will go into her routine just as the boss walks in the door from a meeting and she will be out the door. The boss is watching her now as she lost a good employee because of this woman but she needs to catch her in the act before she can do something.
It still leaves a question of what can we as individuals do to help diffuse the anger? So much is out of our control. What do we do? How can we help? Where do we turn to?
In my own life I just do what I can. I gave my friend a big hug and told her I was sorry she was upset and I understood her anger. My Mom is terrified of running out of money so I checked to see if we could save money on the phone. Our cable company provides our Internet and was more then happy to give us a good deal on a package for all three. It gives Mother a little more peace of mind knowing that we are saving somewhere. At Wal-Mart we help each other find things. We are each other’s sounding boards for the frustration we feel at the torn up store. What I am noticing most is that we are more willing to smile at each other and even strangers will say hello. In this time of struggle for all of us we are reaching out and connecting with each other as humans. I don’t have a lot of money for clothes and a lot of my wardrobe was given to me by friends or from sale racks but I try and wear brighter colors and unusual jewelry. The people I work with and people who come to the hospital like that I will make the effort to look good and it brightens their day when they see the pretty colors. I dress as much to give pleasure to others as I do for myself.
I think the best thing we can do is reach out and touch someone. In these hard times a hug and a smile and a kind word is what everyone needs to help them survive.
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