A new way to view this economic collapse

So I went square dancing the other night and I have to say, if you wanna hang out with some positive people, you should hang out with the square dancin' crowd. I was hanging out a lot with a once-upon-a-time stock broker who was especially happy, because he had the foresight to leave just before the market really went down hill, and although he warned many of his colleges that things might be bad very soon, he said very few people listened. Now he's living the good life, not having to work, making sculptures and sleeping in, learning about permiculture and herbalism. We where talking a bit about the economy, and he said "well now people will shift to living the way they are suppose to live..." I began to think about stories I had heard about the Great Depression, and how people bonded together more and helped each other out, how teenage boys would work for local farmers just for a hot meal and companionship at the end of the day, how people would be more willing to hire hobos for a day or two, just so they'd have the satisfaction of knowing they'd helped someone out; times where hard, no doubt about it, but in struggle, people have a way of coming together to help one another. I thought, "may this guy is right..this is the opportunity we've all been waiting for...maybe now we'll learn from our mistakes and all learn to live peacefully together on permiculture farms."

My mom had a similar message today. She said to me "honey, do you see the squirrels or the birds or the trees worrying about the economy?" I said "of course not mom, but there aren't seven billion squirrels on the planet who've never had to gather nuts before now either, who suddenly have to learn how and where to find food..." A little later in the day, while having a BLT sandwich with a new friend, he said "I'm considering contracting my carpenters to help do some work at a new brewery in exchange for beer..."

"Are times really that hard?" I couldn't believe I was hearing that a group of carpenters might be working for beer. He laughed. "We'd be donating the beer to a benefit of some sort.." he said. Again, an example of people working together for common and positive causes..he was willing to work to help the owners of the new brewery, as well as helping whoever the benefit was for. I thought that was an amazing example of the sorts of positive things that could possibly come out of this new economy. My mom said some things along these lines too "you know, if things get really bad, you can always move home with us....I've offered grandma the option of living with us too...you're father has been talking about raising sheep and chickens..." I was thinking "wow...we might, as Americans, start living in extended family groups again...and we might start subsistence farming again too...!"

I think times have been progressively been getting harder over the past several years, and we've seen already numerous examples of how a low income can actually be a good thing. Collective houses, shared bulk food orders, the continued rise of co-ops, more bicycle commuters....all of these things have risen in popularity over the past few years, and are win-win situations, as far as I can tell. I think collective housing is probably the top of my list about how slow economic times can actually improve someone's life; instead of living in lonely isolation, we have poverty to thank for making our friends as far away as down the hall from us. Collective houses are a big hit here in Portland, where you are almost more weird if you live just with a sweetie or in a nuclear family type situation. Almost everyone has at least one non-family member living with them...and it just seems to make homes so much fuller and nicer, and everyone's chore load just a little lighter. And imagine how nice it'll be once grandma and auntie and mom and dad and you and your hunny and your babies all live together (wait a minute, scratch that!) But seriously, while in Africa I realized we actually miss a lot of intimacy as Americans that many other families have; ideally I think, we would grow up in extended families and never leave that village-living type situation. (I know I'd be getting a hell of a lot more snuggles if I lived with my sisters and my mom and dad right now, instead of in a tent in a friend's backyard!) I miss the intimacy I shared growing up with all of them in Upstate New York.

so, are you all ready for the new economy? The one that isn't based on pieces of green paper, but rather on self-sustained permiculture villages, where the only economy that matters is the number of hugs you get in a day, a full belly at the end of the day, and a hunny to snuggle with through the long, cold night?

I know I am.

Much love,
Carrot