Giving During Desperate Times

The US Department of Labor released the latest unemployment figures on Friday for the United States and sadly the percentage inched up from 9.1% to 9.2%. The rate has been above the 9% level 24 out of the past 26 months. Today it’s hard to believe that it was below 5% at the beginning of 2008.
During times of economic fragility, most of us follow our basic instinct to cut back on our spending and focus on ways that allow us to keep as many pennies as we can. This financial stance soon boils over into other parts of our life and we adopt an inward focused approach to almost everything we do. We become self-centered and guarded and often abandon our practices of philanthropy and volunteering. Ironically, it is precisely these times when we need to stop thinking about ourselves and start thinking of others; a simple lesson I learned as a child.