Perhaps gratitude and humility can be learned through a new Great Depression.

[Stanchetalarooni]

Swagger is no longer fashionable.

[Cooley Hurd]

1. That's a silver lining...

[ClayZ]

2. Humble, what a great idea!

Do you suppose some VALUES may change?



Here's hoping!

K and R

[earth mom]

3. Do most people in this country even know the meaning of humility in this country these days?

It's all about the "bling" doncha know? :eyes:

That said, I hope you are right.

[PVnRT]

4. Yeah, and who cares about those who would starve or live on the streets?

What's important is that you're right.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. You have no clue how bad the suffering will be

oh well... what did santayana write?

Something about those who do not learn from history and all that

[liberalpress]

6. I assume then you don't have a job

or don't care to have one. Fair enough. I don't particularly want to lose mine but if I do then I assume it's OK to stay with you?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

7. people who romanticize poverty have clearly never had to witness real poverty

[Naturyl]

9. True.

Take it from a real poor person - poverty DOES build character - but I'd rather have a little less character and enough money to pay the bills.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

12. i have never been poor, but i have witnessed penury. I know for a fact that

i would never want to be poor. not the kind of poor that the depression woudl bring.

its insane to want a depression to build character.

[PVnRT]

11. We have a winner

[arcadian]

13. It's all about sustainability

Most people in the third world who would today be characterized as impoverished would be just fine if institutions like the World Bank and IMF didn't come in and fuck things up.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

14. this is related to the thread how?

[SIMPLYB1980]

16. Well said.

[cali]

8. naive.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

10. My father told me stories about how bad it was during the Great Depression

Jobs were seemingly impossible to find. His father who was a train engineer was the only one working and he took in the entire extended family of aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents into his two-story house in addition to his own five children and wife. Everyone had to get along and support each other under one roof.

[TayTay]

15. I doubt it.

Hard times make hard people.

[Hidden Stillness]

17. Not A Depression, but a Tight Budget, Would Be Good

I think that any real excess of money corrupts, and not only kills good traits such as compassion for the lack that others also feel/suffer, and trying to increase your own contentment and getting rid of the endless drive to just buy more things, because you can't, but also kills good life skills like budgeting, and repairing things rather than throwing away more and more piles of garbage. I think this is done by being on a strict budget and actually not having enough money, but barely getting by; I have come to think of that as good, although perilous--and you worry about anything happening, to add to your bills. Poverty/Depression, I would not wish on anyone. Read about the Depression of the '30s; horrific. The answer is just to have only enough to get by, and not much more. It is like the situation (that the Census has always shown) that the economy does better, and corporations run themselves much more intelligently, when their corporate taxes are high, profit margins very slim, (as, 1950s, etc.), and they have to run things well, re-invest in their own operation, keep their employees, increase unemployment benefits (paid by corporate taxes), etc., and not, as now, have so God-damned much moeny left over that they start getting into speculative investments, lobbying of Government officials, and all the other corruptions that come of too much money.

I also hate swagger and arrogance, and would be willing to suffer through a lot, just to wipe it off of George Bush's, Dick Cheney's, Karl Rove's, etc., faces, and I think difficulties of any kind give you a real, and sincere seriousness; that free-ride too-much-of-everything kills. I agree on that point, too--but not a Depression; horror. Just a tight budget that you were getting by on; I think that is good for people.

[tama]

18. In my language

words for civilized (sivistynyt) and civilization (sivilisaatio) resemble but they are of different origin. "Sivistynyt" comes from ugric root "siveä" which means "prudent", "humble", and "sivilisaatio comes latin root "civis" meaning citizen of Rome/Empire.

[AirmensMom]

19. I doubt it.

Even here, I see heartless people who will blame the victims.

[Doodler71]

20. How about empathy? It seems we are running a great deficit

in feeling empathetic for others.

Maybe leveling things a bit will rekindle some kindness.