The recession has been the main focus in the entire country for the last year or so, and everybody seems to have been affected by it. So how has it impacted my life? How can the effects of the recession benefit me and my family? How can such a devastating phenomenon get stopped? Why did it start?

Well unfortunately I cannot answer all of the questions that I asked above, but I do know that the recession has not left anybody the same, whether it is for better or for worse. Personally, the biggest turmoil that has arisen for me is the rising cost of college prices. I am hoping to be accepted into a higher education establishment that is known for its academics, such as Penn, Harvard, Notre Dame, Stanford, etc. But all of these colleges have shown significant price increases. Due to this, I will find myself working at least part time to pay for the higher price of tuition. I will have to miss out on a lot of social activities, as spending time with friends would pile up my weekend work hours and decrease efficient study time. Our country has put so much effort into getting the future leaders and thinkers educated, but when money is as tight as it is and prices are continually rising for college tuition, those future leaders and thinkers are getting reduced to future McDonald’s employees since they can’t pay for all that college has to offer.

I also have found a huge disappointment in the fact that jobs are not raising worker’s salaries due to the inclining price in consumer products. This is probably something very obvious, but everything is connected in a chain. The fact that parents are not making extra money, but have to pay more for the essential products, means one of two things. They can work more and not get to spend much time with their family, or they can cut back on some of the nicer things in life and not get to enjoy it as much, but simply live for survival. Either way, that is not how God intended us to live. I am not saying that we have to be rich and able to buy every little thing that Apple comes out with so we can play with it for six months, and then buy the newer version of it. Nor am I saying that everybody in our country faces these problems. I am simply saying that spending more and making less is not going to make anybody happy, except maybe the people at the top of the ladder who benefit from everyone else’s loss and unhappiness.

After all of the things that I can think of for being wrong with the current economic state we are in, there is possibly a big benefit from this recession. I could sit here and ramble off everything that I am not greatly appreciative of in this country and the way its going. But complaining about everything that I can’t buy or have to work twice as hard for is not really going to do much for me, or anybody. But after all of this is said and done, maybe, just maybe America will be able to come out looking and feeling stronger than ever before. I believe that whatever doesn’t break you makes you stronger and maybe, as a country, we needed this trip up to show us just how lazy and ungrateful we have gotten. It was about time that Americans, in general, started appreciating the small things in life and learned how to get their hands dirty and work for what they want, or need. Many countries around the world have adopted this blue collar mindset and look where it has gotten China, Japan, etc.

So, in conclusion, the economic recession that we are all facing, is not great. Truth be told, it is just plain bad. But as a country it should bind us closer and give us strength to go through tough times in the future and it should instill that fear in us that if we don’t care more for our country, we will get knocked off our post as the most powerful country in the world. I can just hope that the new president can get us going on the right track.