Have you ever had a sleepless night? Well, I had one tonight as my son is very sick. But it reminds me of others I’ve had recently. Yesterday, Andrew McAfee had an interesting session of andyasks on Twitter.
#andyasks (recession week) what’s the most tangible evidence of the slowdown that you seen / experienced personally?
I responded, but 140 characters is not enough for the full story. There is a couple with a child that is in my daughter’s preschool class. The father lost his job and subsequently the house they were staying in. Now, they are living with family members. We invited them over for a night of pizza and play for the kids. I also got online to desperately look for some work so that they could get back on their feet.
Another couple I know with 4 children experienced a job loss. The father had to leave his wife and kids to go to New Orleans to find work (plenty of construction work there). He found work there and they are doing fine, but the thought of leaving my wife and kids in that manner really makes grateful for the job I have.
These are just a couple examples that hit close to home. Seeing these children experience these hard times keeps me up at night. Hopefully we get out of this economic slump soon, but regardless, we Americans need to reach out and support each other.
