Friends and Finance

My life has been blessed with a myriad of wonderful opportunities and experiences. At the core of many of these amazing encounters has been the presence of incredible people, people that I am lucky to call my friends. Most of my friends fall between the ages of 23 and 27. We are relatively new to the workforce or finishing up our education. We are optimists. Being raised in times of relative prosperity and comfort has made us soft and naïve and very unprepared for our current economic climate. We all assumed that upon entering the workforce we would be overnight successes. Armed with our often expensive, and equally often mediocre educations, we took on the job market and the world.

This last year, and last few months in particular, has been disarming for us all. This dose of reality, known in the media as the economic crisis, has changed our concept of reality. We are not nearly as assured in our ability to conquer the workforce as we had been. Instead, we consider ourselves lucky to be employed. A number of people in my group of friends are now unemployed. We have also learned that we cannot depend on the government. Because of the government, we will probably never see social security and we are becoming further entrenched in debt with every passing day. The one thing that has become apparent during this difficult period is that we can depend on each other.

I do not know if psychological or sociological studies exist studying the impact recessions have on social structures, but I speculate that any such study would reflect that during periods of recession, people become closer and more dependent. Merely as a means of developing connections and pursuing fiscal opportunities, networking becomes increasingly important during more challenging times. Having emotional support during these periods is also a necessity; people need each other. We bolster one another when the economy’s infrastructure bows under the weight of a strained market. In some ways, this is the silver thread that lines all periods of distress.

Especially of late, when so many of us are guilty of distancing ourselves from our surroundings through the use of i-pods and cell phones, the revival of human connection is powerful. When we are forced to cut back on our spending, we exchange new gadgets for picnics with friends, people over property.

Hopefully, as we rejoin humanity on a more personal level, we will exchange ideas, giving rise to a new generation of products and innovations that will generate a rebirth of our economy. Through conversations and relationships we will create a world rich in funds and equally rich in friends.