2009: Now for the Hard Part

Posted by Peggy Drexler, Huffington Post at 3:33 AM on January 1, 2009.

Our historic resiliency may have atrophied in the soothing soak of good times. We are twice removed from the "greatest generation". After Vietnam and aside from a few short-term financial scrapes, the baby boom has had a sweet ride. While the advantages were certainly not evenly distributed, boomers have generally lived well, stayed healthy and had a pretty good time.

Our children's' generation had all that, plus they were raised in the warmth of our obsessive concern for their happiness and self-image -- a generation where, win or lose, everybody gets a trophy.

And now this.

It's said that the key to happiness is the ability to look reality in the eye, and deny it. Happiness, maybe. But not the ability to step up to one of the toughest times in our history. We can't deny the reality of a country that has been shaken to its very identity.

Will families become stronger, or will they begin to crack under the strain? Will new values emerge, or will the ones that got us in trouble simply be put on hold? Will square footage, portfolio growth and other past measure of success be replaced by things more lasting and spiritual? Will we reach out to those who are hurt the most, or will we spend our time making sure we are among those who are hurt the least? Will a country of special interests sacrifice for the greater good, or will we see a domestic protectionism that hobbles real solutions?

These questions and more will be answered in a year of both trial and illumination - a year unlike any in memory.

Tagged as: 2009