Coping and Hoping - A Poem

One day the sky fell. Dropped like a stone.

Don’t know now, or then, why I felt like that.

But I did – abandoned, alone, struggling to understand.

Of course the sky didn't actually fall; it just felt like it had.

No clear cover overhead as expected. Just nothing.

What I knew had evaporated. A new normal was unthought.

What had happened to cause this feeling?

It was not a health issue of life or death.

No; it was different. Up was now down; in was now out.

The house was lost. Foreclosed. The clock was ticking.

“Immediate bankruptcy” advised the attorney.

You know, just to keep a roof over our head.

At least until we found a new place. Not like we hadn't

Explored all the options. We had been doing that for two years

And every possibility had evaporated. Like the house.

No lottery winnings to rely on. No support from the IRS.

No consulting gig plopping in my lap. Just nothing.

The money going, going, gone!

The house’s value dropped over $100,000 in six months.

Surely, I thought, it would recover. It didn't.

Instead homes in the neighborhood emptied, for sale.

Not just our neighborhood. Prized enclaves all over town

And nearby towns priced much higher than ours.

A collapse had happened. Then and now. It is still…

Heard the other day our housing complex had sold the last listing.

I doubt that’s true; others just waiting in the wings for a better time.

And now they think it is.

But it isn't. A quick drive through a tony town and in half a mile

I found maybe 15 homes for sale; a desired section of town.

With a big inventory of unsold homes.

The real estate depression in America still has life or what is opposite!

Homes are selling a little better; but not hugely.

Prices are not jumping; some continue to decline.

Upscale markets I’m told are hot. Wait until they have to sell

To take a transfer, or retire for health reasons, or…

Then what will pricing be? Not as good as they had hoped.

Still waiting for normal to return? Still hoping for recovery?

I doubt it is coming. Oh, a new normal will form.

But it is still being invented.

How do I know this? Because workers still look for jobs that don’t exist.

In fact, they look for jobs that are no longer needed.

New jobs titles are springing up. No takers are prepared for them.

New housing prices being worked out. New housing trends being adopted.

New Tiny Homes appearing on the trend scales. New downsizing targets adopted.

Selling the old place only adds to the woes.

But the jobs? The workers need to retool for the new jobs coming on the market.

These are data related. They are technology related.

They are opposite the obsolete now abandoned.

What is needed in business is now still available, just not valued.

Entrepreneur activity is needed. But dwindling.

Risk taking is a must, but not engaged.

If the government, any government – federal, state, county

Isn’t in the game to guarantee my risks, I won’t take it on!

This is not entrepreneurial thinking. This is blasphemy!

New job titles. New career preparations. New industries.

New ways of doing business. New customers and expectations.

Old companies in new apparel in disguise.

These companies must build relationships with customers.

They must not abandon that old reliable skill set.

If they do the new normal will be delayed.

I see mistakes. I see false hopes. I watch others dream.

But they do not invest in the dream. They have no skin in it.

A dream without substance is a wisp of nothing going nowhere.

Education is an investment. Invention is an investment. A dream

Is an investment of sorts. Making it come true takes discipline,

Hope, investment, and hard work. Commitment.

The new normal. It is trying to be born. We are not ready for it yet.

New industries. New services. New products. New ways of buying and selling.

New ways of working and earning a living.

When these are recognized and adopted a new normal will appear.

This will drive housing decisions and markets.

This will steer automobile decisions and markets.

Finally the interest rate markets will respond.

Finally the investment markets will grow.

Finally the normal will take shape.

Housing does not make an economy. It can destroy it.

Financing housing does not make an economy. It can destroy it.

Greed does not make an economy. It can destroy it.

What makes an economy is simple:

Hope, curiosity, education, value of life;

And investment, commitment and hard work.

These all come from individuals and families.

These do not come from government of any kind.

It is helped by institutions of education and caring.

But government does have a role. Just not one of control.

Politics is not an ingredient of hope but of greed and power.

Nope. The role belongs to the people, one by one.

This is our life.

This is our economy.

Let it become what it ought.

Then do your part. Diligently.

August 20, 2014