September 1, 2010 Black Wednesday

     Today has been dubbed “Black Wednesday” on the atoll due to the large number of lay-offs which occurred because of the drastic budget cut for fiscal year 2010-2011 starting this October. It just goes to show that living in paradise does not exempt anyone from the problems affecting the rest of the world. It may take a bit longer to reach us, like everything else from milk to movies, but the problems in the U.S. economy and job market have now hit us too. On a small island such as ours, it’s extremely difficult to go about this process as everyone knows everyone fairly intimately, and it’s heartbreaking to see not only your co-workers lose their jobs, but your friends. Not to mention that when you lose a job here, you lose your life. You can’t look for a different job with a different company in the city or in a nearby town because that doesn’t exist here. You have to actually pack out your household goods and fly thousands of miles on a plane to go home (wherever that may be) and start over. My heart and prayers go out to those affected today. All any of us can do is pick up the pieces and start over, and as Americans, we’ve proven time and time again that we can survive anything. September 11 is a perfect example of that. As humans we are quite amazingly built to survive natural disasters and all manner of emotional and physical trauma, so I know my friends and co-workers will be okay. And the sun will rise again and bring new opportunities and open new doors for us all. It’s not the best start to the month or the school year, but it is better than not having this life at all. So, I hope for everyone to be able to focus on or remember one positive or one blessing in their life today and hang onto that until the storm passes and the clouds lift. Life does go on. Sometimes, we just have to take it one day or one hour or even one minute at a time.