History Lessons

I wish Grandma was still around.  She would know just how to handle the current state of the economy. She was born in 1914, so was a teenager during the Great Depression (the first one, that is). My grandmother lived to be a wealthy old lady, but she never relaxed her frugality, never overindulged. She always grew her own vegetables,  melted down old candles to make new ones, meticulously cared for everything she owned – cars, clothes, furniture – because she intended on having them until they  stopped running, were threadbare, or beyond repair. She would instruct us to open our presents carefully, so that we might use the pretty wrapping again. She recycled 50 years before it was in vogue. Through modest living and careful investing, she and my grandfather never wanted for anything, and were able to finance the education of not only their children, but some of their grandchildren as well.

The lesson taught by those of my grandparents generation was to never let your senses dull. There are no free rides, they would tell us, only hard work and resourcefulness would yield success. At what point did the entire country seemingly forget this common sense? Believe me, I am not wagging a finger at others. I am as guilty as anyone else. Are we, as humans, just hard-wired to have a short memory about the lessons of history? Isn’t that the definition of insanity – to keep doing the same things over and over thinking that one day they will yield a different result? Or is that just stupidity?

I think when situations finally turn dire, we suddenly remember the important things – in this case, things like overextending yourself with credit is going to turn out really badly, fudging numbers to get a loan does not negate the fact that you are buying something you really can’t afford, spending $4.50 on a cup of coffee is absurd. Now we find ourselves embarrassed, caught in the act of hedonistic consumption, scrambling to find ways to cut costs and divert our attention away from our rapidly shrinking stock portfolios.

I am writing this from my home office, my cat tucked behind me like a lumbar support pillow, both of us anxious to use the other for warmth. Most days I hole myself up in here, space heater on low, the heat for the rest of the house turned down. I think, W.W.G.D.? What Would Grandma Do? She certainly would have the thermostat turned down, but probably would have put on a sweater and gone without the space heater. She would also do what I was unable to do yesterday at the grocery store – just say no to $15 a pound coffee, forgo the wine with dinner, leave the chocolate chip mint ice cream in the grocer’s freezer. The $150 cable bill? She would have cancelled Comcast ages ago.

Moral of the story is, if my own habits are any example, we have a long way to go. Bailouts may be necessary, I really don’t know enough about such things to say, but the real change has to be made in our own mindset. Cheap coffee is a start, but the whole entitled attitude that permeates through our culture has got to stop. We aren’t owed a thing, people. I think that the way out of this is going to be a return to the hard-working way of our ancestors. President Obama has said what other politicians have been too afraid to say – he can’t do it alone, and it is going to take a lot of work and time to get back on track. We’ve got the lessons of a generation to study up on.  We’re backed into the corner, finally, which I think will make us very attentive students.

~ by jencoughlin on February 11, 2009.