The New Poor

The new poor, people who have been used to a middle class exsistence but are now for the first time on public assistance and unemployment. From the photos above we didn't learn our lesson the first time.

Central Oregon's unemployment is higher than other parts of the state...and as we drive around town we can see the overgrown partially built subdivisions and empty homes.  It is a wake up call to acknowledge the level of our consumption.  Living within your means was not the American way.  Credit allowed us to live beyond our means, it gave us a false sense of our own value.  We got sucked into the idea that even if we couldn't afford something...we deserved it. 

One of the interesting results of this economy is the turn towards religion...and I mean religion in any form.  I find it peculiar that people who gave up their particular religion or never were religious, now in hard time have decided to join the flock.  It is like religion is a fall back position.  Now, that I am down and out, if I turn towards God someone else will save me.

Here is a quote from an article I was reading, "Here in Southern California, Jean Eisen has been without work since she lost her job selling beauty salon equipment more than two years ago. In the several months she has endured with neither a paycheck nor an unemployment check, she has relied on local food banks for her groceries.

She has learned to live without the prescription medications she is supposed to take for high blood pressure and cholesterol. She has become effusively religious -- an unexpected turn for this onetime standup comic with X-rated material -- finding in Christianity her only form of health insurance.

"I pray for healing," says Ms. Eisen, 57. "When you've got nothing, you've got to go with what you know."

Call me crazy but I don't think God said..."here is a whole bunch of religions, now chose the one you like and you won't have to do a thing...I will always save you."

I believe man was given a life...this life...and it is yours to make headway or screw up.  It is yours to learn and grow through your choices and experiences.  Going into some building and praying is not using the power within yourself. 

Life is about learning.  Greg and I made many mistakes, we learned...figured out what didn't work and chalked the failures up to pieces of our puzzle.  Living below your means is not painful...it is powerful.  And if God gave me this one life to live, I am not going to be praying for a better life...I am going to live this life fully and responsibly.