Or so I'm informed.
Whenever I'm tempted to let the performance of my financial portfolio determine the level of my happiness, I remind myself of Jim and Mae Braddock -- or at least how they were portrayed by Russell Crowe and Renée Zellweger in Cinderella Man. If you've seen it, then you know what I'm talking about when I say we really don't have it so bad. If not, go watch it and get a little perspective on what "hard times" actually means.
Jim Braddock was a boxer by trade, but he was a family man at heart. His willingness to sacrifice for his little family during the Great Depression (the real bleakest of times) is an ennobling story. Upon seeing a guy happily offer part of his only meal, a slice of bologna, to his hungry child after toiling at the docks all day -- I'm not as quick to start freaking out about a bad week in the stock market.
These are the times when we simply chuck our investment quarterly reports in the trash and go admire the autumn leaves with our family. It then becomes easier to appreciate the little wooden sign Melis' placed above our kitchen sink -- "It's a Wonderful Life."
2 comments:
Cool story, Hansel. I actually think this whole "crisis" is a fascinating "real-life" case study about our banking system and financial markets. I may change my mind if I lose my job. And your link to the monkey story doesn't appear to be working. I wanna read about monkeys.
It's not my link (it still works) -- it must be your stoopid Mac! Here's a good YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgPUQyaZ-l0
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