The New American Dream

It is a gorgeous sunny afternoon in Seattle, quite rare to be 80 degrees this late in the summer. I'm staring at a view of the Olympic Peninsula and the blue water of downtown from our son's home on Queen Anne hill. What a lovely moment. Today is Sept. 11 and I think back to where I was on the morning of the first Sept. 11, how much has changed and where we go from this moment.



On that fateful morning I woke up in a boutique hotel room in Moneterey, California. We had driven up from San Diego, where I live and made our way to the old Spanish capital of the state. The night before we had visited with relatives who lived in Salinas and we were enjoying a delicious sleep. I woke up and immediately noticed the muffled, but distinctly agitated TV sound from the adjoining room. Something about it was off. I quickly dressed and made my way downstairs to the breakfast room. What I saw was of course unbelievable. No one in the room spoke as we sat in silence watching the horrible visual display on the TV screen. No American alive on that morning will ever forget where they were and what they were doing. It has been called our December 7th and I'm sure that we will always recall the disbelief and unreal quality of that morning.



I am also reminded today of how much life has changed for ordinary Americans in the intervening years. That Sept. 11 affected my business and for several years following things were tentative. We felt uncertain and insecure for several years. Now there are millions of us who are feeling even more scared and perplexed about which direction to follow. Many families are basically homeless, good people who have worked hard for decades losing their dream homes. These are not slackers and lazy folks wanting a hand out. No. These are regular, law-abiding, hard working indiviudals who have been betrayed in many ways by the system. A lot of us Boomers scratching our heads. What exactly just happened to us? Our senior parents are terrified and angry. Our kids have a big shock coming because their bright future is in peril and they don't even know it.



What is different in this economic crisis from others that I've survived after 30 years in small business is that there is no shelter from the storm. THere are no states where one could go to ride out the storm. No safe harbors. Loss is everywhere and I feel that things won't be the same ever again. Yes, we will "recover" but it is illogical to assume that things will go back to what they once where. It is akin to putting a square peg into a round hole. It isn't going to work.

It is time for a new reality and a different way to live.