Hard Times and Bandwagons

In these new hard times, the experts keep throwing facts and stats at us each new day. Most of these are pretty disconcerting. But lets admit it -- in America, the most crowded place in the world is a bandwagon. So good news or bad, everyone loves getting on the latest one coming down the road...!

A closer look at this accelerating bad-news bandwagon suggests that different folks are riding it in very different ways. In Colorado a man rushed across a busy street to help two elderly ladies. Was hit by a truck, ended up in intensive care, and got a jaywalking ticket for his troubles. Back in the 30s, parents told us,"When the going gets tough, the tough get going." But you have to wonder how this good Samaritan feels about that advice now.

Another statistic seems to turn that old advice on its head, suggesting instead, "When the going gets tough, go get whatever you can." This jumps out at you as you read the CNN report that last year alone the number of women robbing banks jumped by a whopping 25%.

What we have here is a bad-news bandwagon that everyone's riding differently. Some may see it as a chance to reach out to others like people did in the Great Depression. Others may simply find it another excuse for getting while the getting's good. Different strokes for different folks. Trauma in life -- whether personal or national -- has this way of separating the Samaritans from the Vandals.

Right now the national debate in Washington is pitting these two instincts against one another. Only under subtler names. One side sees social planning and collectivized action as the best way to harness this wagon. The other side sees capitalism and individual action as the better choice. While they argue, the wagon keeps picking up steam from the spreading financial meltdowns. The fork on the road up ahead? One lurches in the direction of a cliff, the other of a meadow.

Here's the thing. We're all on this big, blustery bandwagon together, arguing just who should take the reins. Sounds like an old John Wayne or Clint Eastwood western. But in Hollywood, the one who wrote the script knows what the ending will be. In real life, we're just learning something Mom and Dad learned 75 years ago. Nobody writes this script so nobody really knows what the ending will be.

Perhaps that means we're going to have to help write it ourselves. How? By each of us doing what we can to keep our financial wits about us. Even accelerating bad-news bandwagons respond well to riders who think before they lurch!