Wise Economic Survival Guide

Some wise advice was shared, from the following article, on HOMEschool Fellowship. The full article is by  Chuck Norris, recalling his mother’s wisdom. I looked at the original article and thought it was too good not to share, especially when I turned on the  news this morning to hear of even more Australian jobs being cut…fuel cost increases and interest rate rises, again!

An old Spanish proverb says, “An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy.” I believe that value will hold, in or out of a recession. And being that my 87-year-old mother lived through the Great Depression, I think her value (and those like her) will actually increase through these tough economic times, because their insider wisdom can help us all.

Chuck Norris asked his  87-year-old mother,  “How would you encourage the average American to weather the economic storms of today?”

Here’s her advice, in her words:

• “Get back to the basics. Simplify your life. Live within your means. People have got to be willing to downsize and be OK with it. We must quit borrowing and cut spending. Be grateful for what you have, especially your health and loved ones. Be content with what you have, and remember the stuff will never make you happy. Never. Back then, we didn’t have 1/100th of what people do today, and yet we seemed happier than most today, even during the Great Depression.

• “Be humble and willing to work. Back then, any work was good work. We picked cotton, picked up cans, scrap metal, whatever it took to get by. Where’s that work ethic today? If someone’s not being paid $10 an hour today, they’re whining and unwilling to work, even if they don’t have a job. Today, too many won’t stoop to scoop poop, but I hear sewer work pays pretty well these days. The message from yesteryear is don’t be too proud to do whatever it takes to meet the financial needs of your family.

• “Be rich in love. We didn’t have much. In fact we had nothing at all, compared to people today, but we had each other. We were poor, but rich in love. We’ve lost the value of family and friends today, and we’ve got to gain it back if we’re ever to get back on track. If we lose all our stuff and still have one another and our health, what have we really lost?

• “Be a part of a community. Today, people are much more alone – much more isolated. We used to be close with our neighbors. We cared for one another, watched one another’s kids and shared meals together. If one person had a bigger or better garden or orchard, they shared the vegetables and fruits with others in need. We used to speak to one another daily at our fences – today, you can barely see over a neighbor’s fence. Society has shifted from caring for one another to being dependent upon government aid and welfare – that is why so many today trust in government to deliver them. They’ve forgotten an America that used to rally around one another in smaller clusters called neighborhoods and communities. We must rekindle those local communal fires, and relearn the power of that age-old commandment, ‘Love thy neighbor.’

• “Help someone else. We never quit helping others back then. Today, too many people are consumed with their own problems and only helping themselves. ‘What’s in it for me?’ is the question most are asking. But back then, it was, ‘What can I do to help my neighbor?’ I love Rick Warren’s book, ‘The Purpose-Driven Life,’ and especially his thought, ‘We were created for community, designed to be a blessing to others.’ If we help others, others will want to help us too. But if we never reach out, and no one else knows our needs, how can we help people or people help us? Most of all, helping others gets our minds off our problems and puts things into better perspective.

• “Lean upon God for help and strength. We didn’t just have each other to lean on, but we had God, too. We all attended church and belonged to a faith community. Church was the hub of society, the community core and rallying point. Today, people turn to government the way we used to turn to the churches. It’s been that way ever since Herbert Hoover’s alleged promise of a ‘chicken in every pot’ and President Roosevelt’s New Deal. Too many have abandoned faith and community. We trust money more than God. And maybe that’s a reason why we’re in this economic pickle. If greed has become our god, then maybe we’d be better off to view the recession more like a realignment. But who will admit today to being off center? We all get lost sometimes. We all need the Lord. I don’t know how or why people today try to live without Him. As the old adage goes, He’s always only a prayer away.”

Now’s that conventional wisdom that should be shouted and posted in every corridor of government, every community across America and every blog on the Internet.

Call me overly pragmatic, but I think a little practical wisdom and encouragement is what we all need about now. Mom has always been good for that. She still is.

Chuck Norris is the star of more than 20 films and the long-running TV series “Walker, Texas Ranger.” You can see more about him, his life and ministry at the official website: ChuckNorris.com.
You can see the entire article at World Net Daily.