It seems everywhere you go these days, someone is going out of business. Big and small alike sink under the weight of debt and despair.
I work for a small, family-owned printing company. They’ve been in business for 31 years – almost as long as I’ve been alive. Dave, the owner, says he’s weathered storms like this before … he’s seen it all. I take comfort in those words. Hoping that the rotten stench of belly up is far from our doors.
I am the one full-time employee, I provide graphic design services, logos and layouts. But I also answer the phone, deal with customers at the counter, print the digital jobs, pre-press work, quotes, the company email marketing, and occasionally… I even clean. I try to make myself useful, but I have to say, sometimes it’s hard to look busy, when there’s absolutely nothing to do.
We had a long-time customer come in today, a reorder on some duplicate forms. She’s in the business of metal recycling and has been hit hard by the plummeting prices. She says her few customers these days are the ones lugging in bags of soda and beer cans, just trying to scrape by. At 25 cents a pound, it’s little comfort. But, it’s something. I promised her all my cans… knowing that there’s always a surplus of empties at my place. And frankly, I could stand to make a few extra bucks.
The largest auto dealership in Georgia went under about a month ago – his lots were cleared out a row at a time. Today I drove by and the corner is now barren. A testament to the recession that no government entity will utter. Seems a slap in the face. Who can’t face the reality? Most of us already know that we’re moving backwards … it’s only a matter of time before it becomes official. And when it does, prepare for the collective sigh and the eventual eye-rolling.
I’m not the kind of person to give into general fears. But this is something that I think I should prepare for – I just don’t know quite how yet. I’ve been moved by various online posts to stock up on rice and beans, water and vitamins. I haven’t really taken it to heart. I don’t want to admit that it’s a possibility that I could become financially ruined by this mess. That I’d need to rely on reserves. The mere thought of the breaking down of “the system” frightens the crap out of me, and that’s one thing I don’t want to be: so frightened I can’t move. So for now, I wait and see … and yes, I pick up a few extra cans of food every trip to the grocery store. But I have yet to go into major horde mode. Yet.
There’s this strange dichotomy going on in America: many of us are so full of hope – now that Barack Obama has been elected. And yet, there’s this general unease. Unemployment, rising costs, the insecurity of the world. (Damn, I have to stop reading MSNBC)
I just hope Hope wins. I want to believe that our will, is the way. That our thoughts truly can create what we want. And we want to lift ourselves out of this mess. We want peace. We want security. We want health and joy and love and comfort and jobs and opportunity. All these things are at risk, we can see it with one eye, and yet the other is blind.
I have faith that all will be well. Rough roads and hard times ahead, but I will not lose faith, nor hope. We can do this, together.
