American Values Changing For The Better

Nothing helps bring about a change for the better in American values more so than a good old fashion recession. American history is filled with both good and bad financial times and when times are good - too many Americans become excessive in their spending habits and low in their basic moral values. Over the past year, millions of Americans have seen their on paper financial wealth decrease tremendously and just like in the past - when wealth goes down in the United States - the moral value of helping ones neighbor increases at the same time. I have heard all of my life that money is the root of all evil and maybe that old age wisdom is correct.

Let's face it, in the United States the citizens that have called this nation home for over two centuries have had a checkered past at best. Young Americans are for the first time learning that it is possible to lose everything they have worked for through no fault of their own. That reality is the same one that was experienced by their parents and grandparents in the past and it is a lesson each generation must experience - if they are to learn and grow in a moral way into adulthood. There is an old song that says something like "life is about change, nothing ever stays the same". Those words are as true today as they were generations ago. Good financial times are only successful over the long run, if they are followed by more difficult times - which help Americans understand that nothing long lasting happens without a good moral foundation to build upon.

In 2009, the United States is building a moral foundation that will take our great country into the future. Gone are the attitudes of only a year or so ago when narcissism and excessive human self indulgence was the preferred path toward happiness. Now, most Americans are starting to look at their lives in a more inclusive way and that is a good and natural thing that needs to be repeated at this time in history. I believe that this Christmas holiday season will prove that the American people will have readjusted their priorities of life as they start to give more gifts of necessity and fewer gifts of status. My guess is that Christmas 2009 will provide a good road map for future Americans to follow, even when this years recession has been reduced to a distant memory.

The boom and bust cycle of the United States of America serves not only the financial needs of our people, but it also builds something more important than money. No great nation will survive the long run without a rock solid moral foundation. Human experiences of the past prove time and time again that moral foundations are built during times of struggle and hardship and that is exactly what the United States of America is in right now. Before long, the tough financial times of today will fade away and more affluent days will once again take their place. All Americans should rejoice in the hard financial times of today, because without them our nation would have no character and would soon parish from the face of the Earth. When good financial times return to the United States, a new generation will better understand the changing financial landscape of the greatest country on Earth.