If the experts are right, then 2009 will be bad news for the stock market. It may also be a bit tough on those who want to find paid employment.
However, it does not have to be awful for you or me.
I have been blessed to meet many people who lived through the 1930 Depression.
Although they were not keen to revisit those desperate times, they had many good memories of a time when the conditions had made them far more interdependent and community minded.
One common story was the community sing-along. Everyone was equally short of money, so a free enjoyable night out was always welcomed. So they would all gather in the community hall and the piano player would hit the ivories with an evening of popular tunes. The night would finish with a shared supper.
Another memory was of the school garden. The fertiliser companies provided the seeds and the children and parents would provide the labour. I have seen photographs of these gardens and they really were impressive.
So perhaps once again, the economy is going to give us the incentive to face our adversities with a much stronger sense of community.
My ambition is to work a lot closer to nature. The natural world knows nothing about unemployment; there is always work to be done. In return, Mother Nature delivers an impressive array of free services including shade, wind shelter, water, sunlight, fruit, vegetables, meat, warmth from fire, basic clothing, microbes to enrich the soil and so much more.
All we have to do is listen and learn with a humility born of the insight that we do not know it all.
And surely if the recent economic meltdown has taught us anything at all, it is that we do not know it all.
