Watching the news, one gets a sense that the world’s economy is again in a downward spiral without much hope in sight. The pundits say we’re in, or somewhere close to, the greatest financial mess since the Great Depression.
Having sat through history class and seeing pictures of what the Depression was like, I see similar aspects of that era linked to our present situation. The lines, the crowds of people clambering around stores waiting anxiously for food and water… well that was then. Now the wait is for less essential items.
It was a beautiful evening in the summer of 2008. The moon shone through the cloudless sky and I was gathered along with a crowd, waiting for tickets to the Dark Knight premiere in a concert like mosh-pit, the splendour of that night was lost to everyone in the theatre. Only the fortunate few without tickets got to enjoy a picturesque summer night. We waited for hours until the stroke of midnight before we were ushered into our seats with the rest of the weary group.
Sitting there in the darkened room a question arose: why all this trouble for something non-essential. It’s not a need, something necessary for survival and it will not improve my health, my career or life situation. Focusing on this troubling thought, even Batman couldn’t answer this dilemma, although he did put on good show.
When the show ended, reality struck again, and the search for the next trivial fix was on for everyone.
[su_panel background=”#f2f2f2″ color=”#000000″ border=”0px none #ffffff” shadow=”0px 0px 0px #ffffff”]by Nizanth Navaratnarajah
image: movie theatre via Shutterstock
