Open Letter to the Economy

Dear Economy:

I know we are not in the habit of talking; in fact, I feel much as an agnostic must feel upon addressing God. So by way of introduction, allow me to share a memory with you. My little brother Aaron and I were in the car with my father. I was 19 or 20, my little brother 7 or 8. They were recounting the events of a Lakers basketball game. My father expressed dismay at Rick Fox’s abysmal performance. My brother, shaking his head of blond curls, laughed, “Rick Fox sucks.”

My father, a proponent of rearing children to use the English language to the best of their abilities and also of teaching children not to denigrate others, replied, “Rick Fox could do better.”

My brother rolled his eyes. “Yeah, a lot better.”

I don’t wish to be rude or to denigrate you, Economy, but in the words of my father, you could do better.

I just went to the grocery store and everything is twice as expensive–in some cases more–than it used to be. Okay, some things are only 50% more expensive, but that’s not insignificant. It adds up.

And I don’t mean to be selfish, but I don’t want to feel obligated to get a job. Chris hasn’t asked me to–hasn’t even implied that he wants me to. In fact, he wants me to follow my dream. He reminds me to be thankful that we’re not in the position so many other people are in. He reminds me to be grateful that I have the luxuries I have, and that if the greatest sacrifice I am making is that I have to pay attention to what I buy and trade some name brands for some off brands, then I have little to complain about.

Perhaps it’s poetic that I chose now to start my own business. I have always done everything backwards and hard. That’s sort of my trademark, I suppose. I recognize this tendency in myself, but I fear I am ill-equipped to do anything about it. Perhaps it is written into my stars. Perhaps that is why I have been blessed with a permanent +50 to Luck, to make up for the fact that I am burdened with a permanent -15 to both Practicality and Tradition.

I remind myself that this, too, shall pass. Even if the country enters a recession, even if, God forbid, an honest-to-goodness depression, things will eventually come around. And through it all, given my family, my health, and my wits, I will prevail. I’ll be fine.

I remember a few years ago when I was 60 pounds overweight and beginning my diet. I remember wishing that the Amber from 8 months in the future would visit me so that I could see myself and be inspired by the progress that I would make. No such time traveler appeared, but somehow I muddled through and lost the weight. I became the Amber of the future that I had hoped for.

She is in my past now, but she is a good source from which to draw the personal strength I sometimes lack. I think about what I have overcome in myself. I think about who I used to be, and how I decided to change, and did. The Amber of my past, who was once my future, sits besides me and reminds me, I had to struggle to get here. It didn’t happen overnight.

It didn’t, did it? No. Things seldom do.

I tell you all this, Economy, ostensibly to give you courage, to give you the strength to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and muddle through to your own improvement. We all need you to do better. But in the end I suppose I tell you this in order to remind myself, in order to really see, that nothing is permanent.

Judaism says that every blade of grass has an angel that leans over it and whispers, “Grow, grow.” I am no angel–in fact, a poor substitute to be sure. Yet I have never met the one that couldn’t use as much support as it could garner.

Grow, sweet Economy. Grow.

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