Editorial Piece

Ever since the 9/11 attacks and our involvement in the Middle East, our country has seen major economic storms with incredibly high gas prices and a whirlwind of people getting fired from their jobs. While we have always heard about these events in terms of large statistics, such as 7.2% of 307,212,123 Americans are unemployed as of 2008, it is important to look around us and relate these statistics to our own community. Of course everyone has been able to feel the ever growing hole in their pockets spew out their hard worked money on raised prices for energy, gasoline and even milk, but what about those in our community that are not so fortunate to even be able to afford the higher prices? Work is hard to come by, and even harder to maintain in the dog eat dog world of capitalist corporations. Just on my street there are three hard working, responsible adults that have lost their jobs not of incompetence but because their line of work is tanking. It's easy to blame people and events for the cause of this economic rollercoaster we've been riding, like the war in the middle east or the credit card companies, but what is important now at this point in time is to reach out within our communities and give eachother a helping hand. Chances are that there is someone within your own local community or neighborhood that can barely afford to get by with basic neccessities we take for granted every day. While helping these people in need out may take away even further from the material wants that you may think you need, the personal gratification of helping someone out in a desperate time outweighs personal desire. While I'm reminded from time to time that our countries economic problems are effecting my own home life, my parents have also made certain to let me know that things could be way worse and have actually taken to helping out one of the three unemployed neighbors. Think about if you were to be in a position where you couldn't pay for milk, transportation or even to heat your house, would'nt you want somebody to help you?