These are the dog days of a dog year. In fact, last night I walked my dog in humid 90 degree heat; normal for mid-July—except it was almost midnight! During those walks, with the moon and stars offering their distant perspective in the night sky, I often ponder how I might better exist in these relentlessly negative times.
Not only has this been the hottest year on record, but during much of it we’ve watched helplessly as millions of gallons of oil spilled into the nearby Gulf of Mexico. Across the globe, one war is winding down while another is winding up with increasing casualties.
And we’ll soon enter the third year of the most brutal recession in a lifetime. If you’re young, you’re finding it difficult to launch a meaningful career. If you’re middle-aged, you may have seen that career disrupted by massive layoffs. If you’re older than that, you’ve likely lost 30 to 40 percent of your net worth. Almost everyone who bought or refinanced a house in the last half-dozen or so years owes way more than its now worth—to the banks and lending institutions that created this mess.
Business is down almost everywhere, and I should be grateful for job security. I have successful and unnervingly competent friends who have been out of work for more than a year. One has moved seven times in two years in pursuit of gainful employment. Another found a job but can’t relocate without taking a six figure hit on his house or letting it go into foreclosure.
Increasingly, these problems seem systemic and too overwhelming for our deeply politicized government to address. It’s an election year, but the vast majority of candidates are uninspiring.
Am I depressed? Maybe. But I’m also enough of a lay-Buddhist to know that it’s all dukkha, or the suffering that is inherent in life. Depending on your perspective, you can either minimize or magnify that suffering.
Lately, I’ve felt like I’m looking through a telescope. So for guidance I went to three respected friends with one unique thing in common: each has advertised in all 415 issues of Watermark.
Fred Berliner, an award-winning salesman at Don Reid Ford in Maitland, characterized the past three years as “the most trying in my 28-year career.”
“I’ve sold cars through different recessions,” he said. “All of them, even the one after 9-11, seem like blips in comparison.”
Fred told me he’s gone “back to basics,” making sure there’s a roof over his head and food on the table first. It’s meant less travel, and more selective charitable giving.
“But I’ve rediscovered cooking,” he said. “I used to eat out almost every meal; now it’s reserved for special occasions.”
And what does he do to stave off the blues? “I work,” he said. “I don’t get paid unless I sell something, so I have to be there when the customer wants me there. It beats sitting at home worrying about it.”
But for Fred, who says his clientele has been 60% gay ever since he started advertising in Watermark back in 1994, the 75-hour work weeks have begun to pay off. He’s optimistic about the future.
“Last month was the best month I’ve had in three years,” he said.
MyOptics owner Bill Pease told me his eyewear business has also been down, and that many of his clients have been deeply affected by the recession.
“I’m pretty direct, so I ask,” he said. “I’m concerned about how they’re doing.”
Some have lost jobs and homes, and almost everyone is on a tighter budget, he reports. They put off eye exams, purchase fewer designer frames and tend to stay within their insurance limits.
“The phrase I keep hearing is ‘hanging in there,’” he said.
But Bill is not nervous about the future. When their lease was up in 2007, he and optometrist Dr. David Rice chose a less expensive downtown location.
“We could see it coming,” he said.
And Bill keeps personal expenses under control.
“I live modestly,” he laughed. “I drive a Hyundai and I still have a television with a tube. How many gay men can say that?”
Bill believes there is good reason to be hopeful.
“Things will come back,” he said. “They always do.”
Certified Public Accountant Elliott Barber is 71 and says he’s never seen anything like the current recession. He also believes it contains lessons for most everyone.
“People who plan for the future were not hit that hard,” he said. “If you’re not drowning in debt you can weather all this.”
Elliott practices what he preaches. He worked two jobs—accountant and teacher—and made real estate investments as well. Today he is debt free and lives on his Social Security income, making it possible for him to be one of the most generous LGBT benefactors in the area.
“I give more than I’ve ever given,” he said. “God has blessed me, and I believe in giving back.”
Like Fred and Bill, Elliott is optimistic.
“I think we’re going to see gradual improvement,” he said. “But it’s going to take several years to create enough jobs so that unemployment will come down and people will start buying houses again.”
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