Today I was in touch with someone who is close to another friend, and helping her through some worrying post-surgery infection. I remembered another friend whose husband's symptoms have rapidly deteriorated. A friend from schooldays was widowered only a few weeks ago. So it is clear that not everyone in the world is going to have a riotous and carefree Christmas.
I am finding the 'recession' to be a good thing in many ways. If people re-evaluate what is important to them, and come back to being together as a family, or groups of friends, instead of spending considerable hours trolling up and down malls buying ever more stuff, then it has positive outcomes. If people discover that they are just as happy with old things as they would be 2 days after they bought new things, then that is good. That is how more than half the world lives anyhow - those in developing countries, those in remote areas, those on low incomes.
I am sorry that more people than usual will spend Christmas week worrying about the future of their jobs, or their businesses. One of the benefits of being old is that we have seen recessions before, and we have been in situations in the past where we had to tighten belts, and adjust our expectations. Harder for young ones who have never known anything but economic growth.
It's a lovely sunny summer morning, so instead of art, I will go and spend time outside, listening to the birds sing while I cut grass.
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