The search for meaning in all this.

On one of the many cable channels available to me, I saw an all-too-familiar kind of ad: the make-millions-on-the-internet-without-really-working-all-that-hard-at-it type ad. I’ve also seen, recently, the pay-off-your-mortgage-and-be-debt-free-without-sacrifice ad and the three-steps-to-buying-foreclosures-with-no-money-down ad. And I thought: Isn’t this kind of how we got into this mess? Hasn’t this all happened because a lot of us started to believe that you could make a lot of money without really earning it, that the way to riches was to “work smart, not hard.”

I can’t help to wonder… maybe when you work smart, but not hard, what you’re doing is making money at someone else’s expense, someone who wasn’t able to work as smart as you were. And because that person is also part of our larger economy, the net gain is zero. Whereas, working hard is a way to make money by producing something… anything. As opposed to making money by shifting it around to your advantage.

Anyway, as my thoughts expanded, I found myself searching for actual meaning in all this. For me, this is somewhat of a coping strategy; it diverts my focus away from the “my life sucks” aspect of being a victim of the economy. That component is ever-present thanks to the media coverage anyway, so I feel if I don’t take steps to look away, it can become debilitating. (Sort of like Perseus looking at Medusa only through the mirrored surface of his shield in order to slay her, only the real Perseus of Greek Mythology, not Harry Hamlin in Clash of the Titans.)

Clearly, the best-chronicled meaning is the one described above: that as a society, we got greedy. The world got greedy for high-interest yields on their investments. The banks got greedy with their sub-prime mortgages. Companies got greedy chasing higher and higher stock values. Even people like you and me started feeling entitled to big-screen TVs, luxury vacations, swimming pools in our backyards, SUVs, and so on. And there seemed to be no limit to how far people would indebt themselves to possess these things.

But there must be more meaning out there, especially for me personally, and one of the biggest questions that keeps coming to my mind is, “What am I made of?” We’re all in the same boat. It’s easy to look around at the World and come to the conclusion that the World stinks. But does it, really? Next time you’re driving along a road in the country, try this: imagine an animal, a squirrel perhaps, standing in those woods, far enough from the road that you can’t see it. And try to imagine what that squirrel is thinking about. Probably looking for a shady place to rest, something to eat, maybe a mate.

Do you imagine that squirrel is angry or sad or overwhelmed, thinking the World stinks?

The World doesn’t stink. The temporary circumstances of a lot of people stink, but the World is doing just fine even if we haven’t got our acts together.

So here I am again, wondering what I’m made of. What kind of person do I want  to be when temporary circumstances stink? Who do I look up to and admire and how would they respond to my circumstances?

My answers to these questions are still in development, but I feel like I’m off to a good start. However, my answers aren’t really important to anyone other than me. What is important is that, by asking and answering these questions, I have some hope that I’ll eventually arrive at some Meaning about the world. About me and who I am. What kind of person I am. And if I can achieve this, when the temporary circumstances of people improve, I’ll feel that I’m a better person for having gone through this experience. I hope.

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