Month: February 2009

Self fulfilling prophecies

Finally a small amount of time to be able to write something. I was back east for a meeting in Winnipeg and stopped in to visit my son and daughter-in-law in Saskatoon. It turned cold the day I left, well cold for someone from the west coast. 

These past few weeks I have been hearing this phrase “self fulfilling prophecies” on the radio and TV as well as reading it in the newspapers. Interesting phrase. It is usually mentioned that during these difficult economic times our speaking about it not getting better serves the negative purpose of it being a self fulfilling prophecy. What is also interesting is that there doesn’t seem to be any quick fix. What was to be cleared up in 6 months has turned to be a year which is turning into 2 years and possibly longer. How long did it take to create the mess we are in? I would suggest it may take that long to get us out of it. 

When things were going ‘great guns’ there was nothing but euphoric hype that it would never end. If there was ever a suggestion that it may end or we should maybe turn the tap down a bit, one was usually drowned out by the great economic champions of free enterprise. Now it is only a few months old and the same captains of industry are telling us to stop talking about it because it is a self fulfilling prophecy. Maybe we should talk about it in any fashion we want to. Maybe some are very upset over loosing a big chunk of net worth. Maybe those that are saying to tone it down should be told to shut up. We are still hearing from so many ‘experts’ about what will happen. These in large part are the same ‘experts’ that were telling us nothing would ever come down, everything would always go up. 

Well that sound that you hear you have heard everyday for a while now. That sound is the toilet flushing. Toilets have to flush to get rid of certain objects that you don’t want around anymore. Our system is beginning to notice things that may need flushing. It isn’t a matter of fixing, or throwing more money at it, or saying it will get better. It is a matter of getting rid of toxic loans and bad credit decisions and God knows what else. That takes time. It will be painful and it will not be pleasant but we will pull out of it and sometime in the unknown future it will be better. Right now we are still trying to understand how bad the wounds really are. Besides medication, much of getting better happens over the course of time — a priceless and limited commodity for all of us. Much of how we get better is to give things time to heal. It may take longer than what we originally expected but given the resilience of our communities, neighbours, family and the democracies we all live in,  I have no doubt we will survive. Those economic wounds we suffer are far from the heart that creates the meaning for our lives.

Is this a trend in blogging?

I am just reviewing my Twitter feed and come across this

@rshevlin I’m considering pulling a Shevlin and saying sayonara to my blog. Half a visit per minute spent on a post may not be worth it.

What is happening here? First Shevlin and now the Warrior?

I can understand the need to move on, to see the limited resource of time diminish to the point of re-establishing one’s priorities but really that should be the main reason. Take some time off. Post a big blinking sign on your blog that you are on vacation and give us some lame excuse but please don’t quit. I mean how are you going to synthesize those diatribes into 140 characters?  You can’t! What is going to happen to all those great ideas and thoughts that swirl around your cranium? They have to go somewhere or your head will explore. 

Seriously though, and for purely selfish reasons, one puts together a group of blogs of some very intelligent and interesting people from every walk of life. For a few minutes every day you get to read what others are thinking and doing without any editorial bias from any unseen source. Sometimes they are good, sometimes they are bad but they are always read. They make sense and if they don’t you get to comment and contribute. They break down an individual barrier that we all struggle with, that of thinking we are alone in our thoughts. That someone from Boston or North Carolina or Iowa could make such a connection to someone in B.C. is a remarkable experience and one that I place a high value on. There are times someone hasn’t blogged for months. Then suddenly they appear again. Sure there are some that will never blog and that is ok. Maybe this is just a phase that blogging must go through. Like it isn’t centuries old is it. 

One of my favourite authors is Robertson Davies. Over the years I have read his books, sometimes more than once. When he passed away, there would be no more books and that was sad. I have one book left of his that I haven’t read and that is being saved for a some warm summer days in the not to distant future. When someone like the CU Warrior says he maybe quitting I can appreciate his position. It isn’t like he won’t be around anymore. It is that there will be something missing. Life gets like that as you get older. Things are missed. We need to remember to celebrate the moment because that gets to be very important.