I heard recently that “the end is near” and the speaker sounded quite delighted. The end, in this case, being the end of the recession. It struck me as kind of funny. “The end is near.” Usually those words roll out in somber tones. Instead, a chipper TV business reporter was rattling off a list of positive indicators, despite the impending backruptcy of GM. She was right. Overall there was good news.
But I am not sure that “the end” is the right positioning for what is happening. For me, a better take is “the recovery is near” or “the beginning is near” but that doesn’t have that same ring, does it?
While the third quarter of 2009 may promise the “end” of the recession, we’ll still have a very, very, long row to hoe.
Lots of people are out looking for work, lots of businesses are concerned about the next payroll, the next inventory order, the next customer coming in the door.
There also are some lessons in all this that I hope aren’t near an end.
I hope we have – and maintain – a better understanding of “anything that sounds too good to be true is”.
During this stripping down of the economy and of people’s lives, there has been lots of talk about focusing on what matters. In tough times we have been reminded that family and friendship lay closer to true happiness than things.
And remember that tale of the ant and the grasshopper? In some ways culturally it seems as a national economy we had more of the grasshopper “live for today” attitude rather than the ant’s “plan for tomorrow.” There’s a balance there we need to achieve.
Here’s hoping the beginning is near.
— Paula Mabry
