Comments on: Cutting Back?

By: Joanne from Sun

Joanne from Sun — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 03:55:31 +0000

That article IS surreal. This is priceless: “If cutting back becomes a cultural mind-set, it can be very hard to turn around.” What’s next? Spending time with family? Talking to strangers? Telling people you love them? Pernicious madness, I tell you. Where will it all stop? “Very hard to turn around,” indeed!

My other favorite quote from the article is the sub-head, “Surviving on plain water.” This is news? Flash: “Vegetables are, in fact, edible.” Who knew?

Thanks for sharing your blog–and a slice of your life–with me, Laureen!

By: ...

... — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:41:02 +0000

Remember when you went the beach to watch the sun set, and you found that you were there with many many other people? And as the sun finally dipped below the horizon, the crowd let out a cheer? It wasn’t the kind of bone-rattling cheer one would hear at a soccer game in Europe, which is awesome in it’s own way. This cheer was more quiet, and carried with it respect and gratitude…of another day on this beautiful planet, and another trip around the sun with everything that brings. Joy, Love, Boredom, Pain, Anguish - everything that lets us know that we are alive, even if not exactly well or even nearly perfect.

By: FR

FR — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 04:26:23 +0000

It’s meant as a negative article, but I see lots of positives there: Aside from cutting back on things-that-are-bad-for-you-anyway, it also seems to make some folks get off the treadmill of consumption-at-any-price, bigger-better-more thinking. Just look at those quotes:
{
Small cuts can also have a big effect on the economy. If cutting back becomes a cultural mind-set, it can be very hard to turn around.
“The new status isn’t how much you’ve got, but your ability to show what you don’t spend,” says futurist Watts Wacker, who advises businesses on trends.
“This is a seminal moment. It’s not a fad that will die out when the economy picks up.”
Trends guru Faith Popcorn puts it this way: “It’s cooler not to spend.”
[...]
It’s not just leaner times, Richardson says. “I won’t go back to my old ways when the economy improves,” he says. “It’s hard for friends to understand, but I’m working on becoming more of a minimalist. It’s a relief to have less.”
}
You’d hope that attitude would indeed stick…

By: Gretchen

Gretchen — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 23:33:16 +0000

ah…..so frustrating. maybe we could hope that in the “cutting back” people will discover the true small pleasures? sigh….life could be so much better for so many people if we just stopped believing what the tv told us…

By: zen

zen — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:50:45 +0000

what planet R U from with ideals like that?

By: Mom2

Mom2 — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:20:17 +0000

Simple pleasures YES! long walks, reading a book, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, soft rain on your face, childrens laughter, and so much more. and they don’t cost a thing.