Janet and I were commenting the other day, that as bad as it has been suffering through this particular downturn, probably the most disappointing of all has been what the downturn does to human beings when economics are involved.
I think it’s a fair statement to say that everyone is affected. I don’t know one business who has not in some way been hurt by “The Great Recession.” And, as you can imagine, we’ve all had to suffer the toils and pains of things like layoffs, cut backs and expenses, elimination of certain vendors, creating greater efficiencies, and on and on. That’s to be expected.
But I guess what was not expected, maybe because Janet and I were just too ingenuous to the process, is that these types of economic times bring out the best in some people and the worst in others.
We’ve had friends and business associates who, in the midst of it all, rallied to be better friends and associates than they had ever been before.
And then we’ve had others, who managed to forsake any of the prior relationships we had fostered at any level as they pursued their own survival and needs.
As gratifying as the first category, is disappointing the second.
I understand what binds people together in troubled times, especially when they share a common bond. The sense of relationship cements trust. That trust allows you to share the experience together as you recreate whatever new venues you can to survive, stabilize and begin re-growing.
But I don’t honestly know what it is that creates the opposite effect in others. You start with a relationship that has been fostered and assumed for years. And yet, when resources grow challenging, they turn aggressive, pretentious, dishonest, or neglectful.
We were trying to figure out what that means.
1. They were never truly friends, or relatives to begin with?
2. They played the game for a long time, but there were innate counter tensions which only came to the surface when challenged by the times?
3. Schadenfreude took over in the face of what had been hidden jealousies or envies, even though they were in the same boat?
4. It just simply brought out their worst character flaws from their childhood?
5. Countless other reasons?
But at the end of the day, what we see is the best and worst of people in the worst of times. I know who the friends and business associates are who will be there for the duration. And I know the friends, and business associates who won’t.
It is disheartening and enormously disappointing, but it is what it is. Let’s now hope, when things get better again, that the ones who made it through the downturn remain bonded when life gets good again!
Original writing date: August 24, 2009