Choose the Life You Want to Live

One of the greatest gifts I received from my parents and others of their generation was their optimism about life in general and about the future. Raised during the Depression (one born in 1920, the other in 1928), they had seen the hardest, cruelest of days during their youth and had nevertheless come through it more or less unscathed.

Both, amazingly, were able to pursue post-high-school education, one an engineering degree at Texas A&M, the other certification as a medical lab/X-ray technician. With World War II over and both with jobs secured in the prosperous civilian economy, my parents’ lives seemed pretty happy and successful. I look now at photos of their dances at the American Legion Hall, of barbecues at a river camp-house of friends; of successful hunting and fishing trips; of vacations at the Texas coast; of birthday parties of their children, all filled with smiling faces and obvious pleasure on the part of the adults.

Were the 1950s just a “better time” than now, the 2020s? Was prosperity then a given when it’s a bigger challenge now? Was housing more affordable, taxes lower, and education easier to achieve then than now? Some might argue so, but increased housing values have benefited as many people as they have hurt, because homes are an investment and there’s always a seller as well as a buyer; and while taxes may be up for some, they are effectively lower for others (effective rates are much lower for rich folks than for the rest of us, as Warren Buffet often points out); rates of college enrollment are far higher now than they were in the 1950s, and the proliferation of community colleges has made higher education affordable for many who could never have attended in the past.

So I don’t buy it, that we live in worse times now, worse than my parents did in the 1950s: times are just different. Assuredly our attitudes to the times we live in are sometimes pessimistic, sometimes more optimistic. And the public’s sentiments are often one of the biggest drivers of the economy. So our own pessimism can make things worse by far, no matter what policymakers might try to do to change our situation.

Be careful what you choose to believe, dear readers: believing that things are bad and getting worse will make you (and others who believe like you do) change your behaviors: you will transfer more of your financial resources into less risky assets; you will save more and spend less; you will wait to remodel the kitchen or buy a new car. If everyone behaves as you do, or enough of us do, we will in fact drive the stock market down, cause consumer spending to fall, cause businesses to see inventories grow, and banks to see loan demand decline. Soon, the entire economy will be in recession.

I have always tried to “follow the money” and think carefully about what the motives might be of people who are trying to get me to believe good or bad about the economy, the government, or the “other people” (who are in fact my neighbors, whether I know them personally or not). Often the ones “peddling” negative ideas or trying to make me fearful about something are themselves raking in big dollars from higher ratings and advertising revenues on radio, TV, or internet/social media.

In the end, we all have to choose the life we want to lead. I choose to try to think positively about my life, about the people I meet, and about the motives of those I encounter, and NOT believe the worst of them from the get-go. I keep an eye on my pocketbook, of course, and am more likely to give a little and walk away than “buy in” to big talk and get-rich-quick schemes. But I remain obstinately positive in my outlook on life, even with all the challenges of getting older.

Complain? Of course I complain about all my aches and pains, but then I laugh through the tears and go on with my life the best I can! That’s what my parents’ generation did, and it served them (and my generation, which they raised) well indeed. So try a positive outlook, dear readers, and see if it doesn’t make your day go more smoothly and make you feel happier about your life in general. After all, the only one in charge of your attitude to your life is YOU!

Have a great week, dear readers, and share a smile and a positive greeting with the next person you encounter, whether you know them or not. Who knows? You just might meet your next “best friend”!!! (And you might also help to improve our 2024 economy while doing so . . .)