Bankruptcy

What Could be Good About this Depression?

By Joseph McDaniel, Esq.

But if there were, what would it be?

A depression always means that people will be out of work.

And that means that those who are out of work have time to think.

After all, when you're on top of the world, you have a tendency to think things like, "Boy, I'm smart! Gee, I'm well-disciplined! Hey, I have great networking skills! And on top of it all, I DESERVE all this cool stuff because I planned and executed my plan, and I'm a wonderful person!"

Now, I've never had those thoughts, and I'm sure you haven't, but I've heard that SOME people have thoughts like those when things are sailing along.

But when things are going poorly, people tend to think things like, "I'm a failure. I'm as dumb as a bag of hammers! How could I have made that stupid investment, taken that stupid job, made that goofy business decision?"

Now, beating yourself up when things go badly in the bank account is not very productive or smart, and I've certainly never done it, and I'm sure that you haven't either. But SOME folks do.

Another thing that people do is to look for work, just as hard as though they were working. And that's a good thing, because it will ultimately be productive.

But one other thing that folks may also do when they have too much time and too little money is to think about what's important to them.

Ultimately, many people reach the conclusion that what's important to them is somebody else, or a few such somebodies. For instance, they may decide that their children, spouse, friends, or pets are the most important things in their lives.

And that's a good thing, because it's close to being correct.

Because love is the only thing in life that is important, because with love, nothing else matters much, and without love, nothing else much matters at all.

Or to paraphrase an alternative comic book trio, The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, love will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no love.

And those thoughts parallel the thought of Oscar Wilde (okay, a weird dude, but he knew how to turn a phrase, and this one is particularly spot on):

Who, being loved, is poor?

NOTHING HERE CONSTITUTES LEGAL ADVICE RE A CHAPTER 7, CHAPTER 13, CHAPTER 11, OR CHAPTER 12. FIND AN ARIZONA BANKRUPTCY LAWYER WHO IS BOARD CERTIFIED IN BANKRUPTCY LAW, AV RATED, AVVO 10 RATED, ON SUPERLAWYERS, OR JUST VERY EXPERIENCED AND A FORMER CHAIR OF SOME BANKRUPTCY SECTION OR COMMITTEE. NOTHING HERE MAY BE USED AS LEGAL ADVICE IN CONNECTION WITH ANY BANKRUPTCY, WHETHER THAT BANKRUPTCY IS IN PHOENIX, GLENDALE, TEMPE, MESA, SCOTTSDALE, OR ANYWHERE ELSE.

Full post as published by Arizona Bankruptcy Attorney Blog on June 08, 2009 (boomark / email).