A new normal

> Title: A New Normal

>

> Date: For the Week of July 20, 2009

>

> People are beginning to realize (and even admit!) there are things to be learned

> from all that has caused so much pain, moaning, and bizarre reactions over the

> past year or so. The current recession has amounted to a wake-up call to some and

> a reminder to others.

>

> The reminder has come to those who have lived a bit longer and who climbed the economic

> success ladder through several decades of hard work. They remember what it was like

> before they could slap down plastic for every whim and be impulse shoppers. They

> recall things such as paying cash, saving to purchase, and repairing rather than

> tossing away and buying new.

>

> The wake-up call has been to the children and grandchildren of the people just described.

> It has even become trendy for them to compare notes with their once-extravagant

> peers about bargains found or the joy of eating at home. For some the motivation

> is not a shrinking paycheck so much as an enlarged environmental consciousness.

> Whatever the motive, the outcome is that simplicity is making a comeback. Thrift

> is in vogue. Frugal is fashionable.

>

> Michael Maniates, professor of Political and Environmental Science at Allegheny

> College, has been so bold as to put it this way: "Perhaps the silver lining [of

> the global recession] is that people are coming to realize they can live with less

> and their lives are richer for it."

>

> A Gallup Poll taken in April and reported last week in USA Today found that 27%

> of those interviewed say they are saving money now. What a contrast that is to the

> spending patters being reported two or three years ago! And 32% of those polled

> report they are not only spending less but also intend for the pattern of less spending

> and more saving to be the "new normal" for their lives.

>

> The 2009 MetLife Study of the American Dream produced another fascinating statistical

> insight. Nearly half of all consumers in the United States, 47%, report they already

> have what they need - up from only 34% in November 2006. I doubt the level of possessions

> owned changed so much as an attitude toward those possessions. Maybe something good

> has come from this mess.

>

> There is even a sneaking suspicion among some that we are looking at life through

> different eyes than we did in the greedy times of a quarter century ago. People

> seem to be valuing objects less but experiences and people more. We can only hope

> and pray it is so - and that such an attitude survives recovery.

>

> "Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their

> money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us

> all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should

> be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share

> with others." (1 Timothy 6:17-18 NLT).