Seek and ye shall find

In these tough economic times, I often find myself engulfed in a personal battle in my mind. Indeed tough economic times had forced many people to do the unbelievable things they would never have considered in the past. We all heard the statistics that crime rate always go out during a period of economic crises and I have no reason to dispute that. In fact, tough economic times also often prompted large demonstrations, riots, or even wars in many third world countries. But here in America, the effect of the economic crises had somehow been subdued (at least on the surface). When we do out to the chic malls or designers boutiques, we can still find people who splurge on their hedonistic desires as if the economic crisis does not have any impact on them.

Yes, the world is unfair. Poor people who do not have access to large money from the government or the financial institutions often end up committing crime in order to get what they want. Yes, and many of them were caught and jailed. I am not trying to defend their actions or anything here. Yes, they're wrong and therefore they deserved to be punished, but somehow I felt they were being incriminated because of their social or financial situation. Had they been a little bit more lucky or a little bit richer or more connected, they may not have to commit those crimes.

Let's imagine. If they were from middle and upper class families, they could have just borrowed thousands of dollars from their wealthy friends or relatives to cover up their late mortgage payments. Had they been celebrities or other famous people, they could even write a book to raise money. Or if they were fund managers in Wall Street, they could have swindled money from hundreds of rich investors who would not be affected by the loss very much (just like the way Madoff did it). Had they been investment bankers, they could have just asked the government to bail them off. If they were executives of large corporations, they could just laid off the lower ranks in the company to preserve cash and then shower themselves with big bonuses for saving the company some money.

But then... that's just a wishful thinking, a dream. A dream that may never come true. Let's go back to reality. If you were out of cash and you were late on your mortgage payment, what should you do? Don't grab a gun and rob the bank, that's foolish. Neither should you spend few dollars left on your pocket on lottery or casino games. Yes, you may have a chance to win, but your chance to win is smaller than your chance of becoming a celebrity overnight. Here is what I think you should do:
1. If you have no job, go and look for job. Any job is better than no job.
2. If you have a job but need more hours to pay your bill. Go to your employer and beg them to give you more hours. And even if your employer was not able to give you more hours, look for other employer.

Yes, you may not get what you wanted immediately. In fact, you may have to persevere for a while before you actually find one, but I can assure you one thing: Your chance of improving your life is a lot better than if you're not doing it at all. Yes, you could say that I am daydreaming. In fact I have personally tried the steps that I listed above and yes, I admit that I have not been successful, but I believe that I am better off than I used to be (albeit slightly).

Never give up, never surrender ... Even though the world is unfair, if you try hard enough you may find someone who is willing to help you out. Even amidst unfairness in the world, you may be able to find someone who is merciful to help you out. No, do not dream of Oprah's giving you money to pay off your home, neither should you dream of having Home Makeover host to fix your home and pay off your debt. There are many other people in this world who still have money to spend at their discretion. Who knows if you're lucky enough to attain mercy from them. And you'll never know until you ask them.

"Seek and ye shall find, Knock and the door will opened unto you."

God bless you all...