Bad News Masks Good Things

Friday, October 3, 2008

Page 15

AT THE SIDEBAR (Column)

Bad News Masks Good Things

By J’AMY PACHECO

It was quite a surprise when I looked at my online news page one day last month to see that the bank WaMu had failed.

I should have seen it coming. When my daughter’s class participated in an online stock market competition last year, her team tanked. Why? Because they bought a lot of WaMu stock — not because it was cheap or they believed in the bank; my daughter suggested it after she’d seen the bank’s name on my ATM card. Apparently, their purchase was the beginning of the end for WaMu.

I was mildly hysterical about the news, until my husband explained that the money we have in WaMu is still there. I even managed to find a silver lining in the whole thing when I learned WaMu had been purchased by JP Morgan Chase. Since Chase is the official bank of Disneyland, I figure someday, my ATM withdrawals at the Happiest Place on Earth will be fee-free.

Is that good news, or what?

Good news seems to be in short supply lately. I can’t open a newspaper without reading some terrible thing about the California budget, the bazillion dollar federal bailout, skyrocketing foreclosure rates, banks failing, war in Iraq, pirates with weapons and, of course, election news, in which nobody has anything good to say about anybody else.

And prices — yeesh! Gas may have come down, but groceries are getting ridiculous. At the grocery store last weekend, for example, I realized that my 12-pack of toilet paper mega rolls is up to $15.99. That’s a lot of money for something that…well, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you where it ends up.

For my family of three, last week’s groceries came to a whopping $144. Adding insult to injury, the only meat I bought was tuna. Who knew life would come down to having to make a choice between meat and toilet paper?

All this economic bad news is enough to depress the heck out of anybody. (No wonder they called it “The Depression!”)

But it occurred to me that there continues to be a lot more good in our country than bad. Take television, for example. I’m not much of a television watcher, but when my mom asked me to TiVo the final of a show called “America’s Got Talent,” I caught a piece of it.

Fronted by an adorable little girl, a group of contestants sang about how some people “wait a lifetime for a moment like this.” By the time the song ended, I was in tears — it was that moving. After that, how could anybody see television — in moderation — as anything but good?

And speaking of TiVo…I first learned of TiVo from my dentist, who told his assistant about it while he was working on my teeth. My mom is at a convention on the other side of the country right now, but when she gets back, my TiVo will let her see the moving song, too. How cool is that?

While it can be an annoyance, overall, technology is pretty amazing. Although these things developed in my adult lifetime, I sometimes wonder how we functioned without cellular phones, e-mail, Google, microwave ovens, Bluetooth devices, laptops, wireless remotes for everything, and iTunes. I wonder what our Founding Fathers would think to learn how far we’ve come from the old, “One if by land, two if by sea” days.

Another development in my lifetime is that of the big box warehouse store. We have a Costco in my town (who doesn’t?) and I have come to depend upon it. Not because I need to buy huge bundles of macaroni and cheese, but because it’s the most reasonable place to pick up new books — AND get free food samples at the same time!

Freeways are another good thing. Of course, I don’t feel that way when I’m stuck on one, but let’s face it — they’re a heck of a way to get from one end of Southern California to another. What a great way to get to the other side of a mountain!

There are many other everyday good things that we probably take for granted — automatic car washes, digital cameras, public parks, donut shops, free public education, antibiotics, theme parks, law enforcement, our justice system and even toilet paper, without which we’d all be buying a lot more corn on the cob.

Oh, yeah, there’s another big one: freedom. Of the press, of speech, of religion — even the freedom to act like a total goofball.

Things are tough right now for a lot of people, but we’ve had it pretty good for a while. Maybe we need to step back, see how far we’ve come, and reevaluate where we’re headed.

Meanwhile, if things get tight — there’s always free food at Costco…