our economic lenten challenge

it's 40 days until the election

for the past year, i've heard myself saying to folks that i didn't think things would start to turn around until after the election

that sounded naive even to my own ears but the past few days on wall street and washington has validated my gut, things will start to turn around after this election

consumer confidence is a term i've heard tossed around all my life but have just now realized the true meaning, lack of consumer confidence means people are scared and in survival mode

the good news is that the day after the election, at least half of our citizens will feel better and loosen the death grip on the dollar which should start the energy flowing in the right direction again

should we commit our children and grandchildren to the task of rescuing us from ourselves or should we just hunker down and survive this economic lent?

what am i willing to give up for lent? i'm willing to give up my pride by sharing our reality rather than continuing to hide in shame, our family business was just the canary in the mine shaft almost a year ago, now the rest of the economy is overwhelmed by the fumes as we work on our "re-organization"

i don't pretend to know all the answers but will stick with my story, things will start to turn around the morning after the election, no matter who "wins"

in the meantime we can meet in the red tent and share in each others strength, experience, and hope.... i believe that in our collective mamisma lies the power to transform ourselves and the world around us and emerge from this transformation stronger and better equipped to compete in the global economy

just as many of us individually have evolved from being victims to being survivors, we as a community need to lay the groundwork during this economic lent for our own successes by being honest with ourselves and each other, once again learning from each other the difference between our wants and our needs, rather than sacrificing ourselves as martyrs on the altar of unbridled greed and expecting a savior to wave a magic wand to rescue us