I think this is not a unique story, not right now. It begins…
“Family is behind on mortgage due to layoffs and crap economy. One member of family is chronically ill, etc. Bank begins to foreclose. Panic ensues. Very nice family possibly loses home and everything and is fucked, and still also has to deal with ill member who still needs care and help and resources.”
It’s happening everywhere. It is really easy to feel bad for people, leave it at that, and and refocus on your own survival, because you can’t help everyone. And we’re all scared of drowning right now.
But maybe… if you know someone, anyone who is laid off or struggling right now, maybe it’d be nice to figure out how you could actually, realistically help them. It doesn’t necessarily have to cost you money, though it probably will cost you time and energy. I was thinking of stuff that I could see doing that would work in my own life without causing a lot of difficulty for our own conservation of resources.
1. Invite them over for dinner and make soup. Soup is cheap.
2. Offer to drive their kids to school when you take yours in, to help them save on gas, if it’s on your way.
3. Buy ‘em a bag of staples like milk and bread and eggs and cheese when you’re at the market, if you have a little extra cash.
4. Babysit for free so they can go to a job interview or work on their resume or just have a night off from stress and care.
5. Lend someone an outfit to interview in if they can’t afford something suitable and you happen to have one in their size.
6. Foster their cat or dog if they are losing their home, so they can couchsurf for a few weeks and not have to mourn the loss of a beloved pet.
I dunno, it’s a potentially very long list. Kind of boils down to “Whatever helps.” if you know what I mean.
I think we should all be asking ourselves “Ok, so, what can I do?” We’re all in this together, in our little houses where we live behind fences, connected only by the internet. Maybe right now is a good time to make some real world, real time, real face to face, hand to hand connections, is all I am saying. Because I think if we don’t all pull together, a lot of really good folks are going to get pulled under. Have already been pulled under. And I hate that.
Take care out there.
