In the long run, we will be fine I suppose, we just need to tuck in our tails and hunker down a bit, ride this out for a while.
Financial markets have been long overdue for this massive sell off, and quite frankly I am surprised it took that long.
My take on it is this: I honestly believe that if the good Masters of the government took $700 Billion from the good public (the servants) to bail out banks and bankers (the wealthy) ; I believe we would be worse off in the long run!
We risk borrowing money that should be earmarked for other things, and will mortgage the future for our young!
In my deaf humble opinion.
No one is immune really, even me, living in Canada, feel the wrath of the big fella"s sneeze south of us, and no doubt we will catch a "cold" as a result.
I'm not going to worry, as stress tends to preform the opposite of what I want to happen to my health. I have enough on my plate now, with being deaf, working on getting a cochlear implant to work, learning to walk without falling, dealing with a nasty blood cancer that dogs my beautiful wife, a wonderful son's foray into high school, and a Schnoodle that demands my attention.
I do, however, worry that in times like this, thats fragments of society that get left out. Programs for the disadvantaged in life get put on hold or axed.
Being profoundly deaf now, I have lobbied the Canadian government for changes in our access to communication.
Web Cap Tel, is a service now available in the US, WebCapTel is a web-based service that allows a person who can speak but has difficulty hearing over the phone to read word-for-word captions of their call on a web browser during the call, while at the same time hearing the other person using any telephone.
A WebCapTel user would make or receive calls while logged into a website and hear the person on the other line using their own cell phone, desk phone, cordless phone, or even an amplified phone. The user (if they have any residual hearing) hears the person speaking through any telephone, not through the internet or web browser. During the call, captions appear on the user's web browser.
Sadly, this is not available in Canada, and I spent the summer lobbying members of Parliament, CRTC executives, Senators, communication companies, and even the Prime Minister.
It is starting to roll, but I fear that funds allocated will be put on hold in lieu of this financial pickle the world is in. This is an expensive program, but it is something the deaf and hearing impaired need to be part of the world!
Many other programs will fall by the wayside as we steam through a crisis of pretty big side. Those that need help and depend on programs that may be cut, will need the help of the "regular folks" team. This is a team of you and I that do what we can to help others, every day. in any way!
As the world goes into a dark financial "cave" for a while until the dust clears, I fear that groups such as the deaf, blind, physically handicapped, and other special interest groups that so depend on Government funding and assistance to get a "leg up" in life, will fall into a dark hole for a while.
I will do what I can to help whenever and however I can, but I am only one guy with pretty limited resources. I will do what I can, then do the best I can to make a difference.
My hope and belief in the human spirit, is that in times like these, and times ahead, we will all be a little more charitable in our efforts to help those that depend on others.
To put this crisis in perspective requires a paradigm shift. We need to look at what we "really need" to get by. Then we need to look in our little part of the world and see how we can help others that have a tough go in these times.
Then we need to do what we can, give what we can, challenge who we can, work on food drives, give a lift to those who need a ride to an appointment, keep our eyes open for work for those that need work.
It is in times ahead that people will need the food bank more than ever. Unfortunately these are the times that many of us neglect, forget or forgo our timely donations to the food banks.
Please try to give if you can.
In short, do what we can.
Please, do what you can to reach out to others who need a lift up.
It will come back to you in spades!
Warmly,
David
5 comments:
so true david ... unfortunately it seems the little guys are always getting the shaft so to speak, oddly enough it is those of us who do not have money invested (not because we would not like to but simply because we dont have enough to do that)that will suffer the least in some ways because we wont miss what we dont have. It is absurd to me to ask us to bail the big guys out who got themselves into this mess in the first place but.... who am I they are asking me to think and act in numbers too big for me to fathom.
hugs laura
I know our local food banks have been hurting since July. Our church has been making the pleas for help on a regular basis.
David, thank you for this post. . . very well said. . .
Yes, you are right - many smaller scale plans to held minority groups will be shelved. And of course the general population, worried about their own finances are perhaps less likely to dip into their pockets to help.
I had noticed a downturn in interest in other subject areas in terms of my work. I usually write quite a few short articles each week and yet at the moment I am getting no commissions for those because the only thing the papers/magazines are covering is the credit crunch. And yet, climatic change still remains the biggest threat to us all, not the financial crisis.
Thanks for the reminder that we all need to pitch in. Even if you don't have the money you can spend a few hours at the local food bank stocking shelves. Writing to your congressmen is another good use of time.
In the US, HLAA (couterpart to CHHA) puts a lot of pressure on Congress. Have you joined CHHA? I met several CHHA reps at the IFHOH Congress in Vancouver last summer.
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