[Written three days after the Lehman Brothers collapse began the 2008 financial meltdown]
It's Wednesday night in Cincinnati, where about 1/3 of the
city is still without electricity three days after a storm blew through on
Sunday. I'm back online, though it's dial-up since Time Warner hasn't repaired
the cable yet. At one time, 90% of the entire metropolitan areas was without
electricity. Here are some of the strange things about the last 3-1/2 days or
so:
1) The city was knocked out by a "storm" where it
didn't rain, it didn't snow, it didn't freeze and it didn't flood. Heck, it
wasn't even cloudy. All we had were sustained winds that reached 55 mph in
places, with gusts as high as 86 mph, thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Ike.
Trees and power lines are down everywhere. The two most precious commodities
have been ice and gasoline (I waited an hour and 20 minutes for gas at 11 pm on
Monday - when the lines were "short").
2) The kids have been off school for three days, but without
electricity or cable - and with sunny, 75 degree weather - they've had to
resort to playing football, riding bikes, throwing frisbees and walking dogs
instead of watching TV and playing video games. It's amazing to see how many
kids actually live around here when they're all outside.
3) I haven't been able to check my portfolio or watch CNBC,
so...
4) I got to take my son fishing on a Wednesday morning in
September.
You know what I've learned?
The sky is still blue, the fish still bite, the kids have
lots of interesting things to say when they're not glued to an electronic
device and it's nice to just sit with my wife. I've learned how neighbors will
help with gas for a generator or share space in their refrigerator if they're
lucky enough to have electricity. Food cooked on a grill is especially tasty
when it's the only option you have.
The most important lesson? I've found I'm a lot richer than
I thought I was last Friday, regardless of what's happened in the market the
past few days.
So, no matter how stressed or worried or scared you might be
because of what's happening in the market, take a moment and reflect on your
family, friends and all the good things in life. Then ask if you'd trade them
for all the money you might have lost since Monday.
My guess is you wouldn't. Be thankful.
