The Rich & The Strong

January 10, 2008

I was out for a morning jog today and had my usual odd combination of content on my iPod. Of course you have to start-out with The Eagles “7 Bridges Road”… what could get you jump-started better than that. Next, I move into Army Rangers Cadence because I always loved to run to cadence when I was in the the National Guard years ago. Next, I move into some old pod-casts of NPR’s Marketplace (I told you I was a bit odd).

Anyway, each Marketplace reporter was re-playing their favorite interviews and recordings of the past few years. One was an interview with a man living in New Orleans in the months after Katrina. He was camping behind his house, working by day to make repairs so he could move back in & reclaim his home. He told the reporter that because of all the massive changes (understatement), the only people that were going to make it were “the rich and the strong.”

That statement resonated with me as I’ve been wondering, along with the rest of us, what is really coming down in 2008. The sub-prime mortgage crisis, pundit’s talking of recession… yet I look around and I see just the opposite. I’m working with people who are starting new businesses, quitting their jobs to go full-time with a business they started earlier, and expanding existing companies. They are taking chances & boldly forging ahead.

I, like many, struggled after losing most everything when the Internet industry collapsed in Spring of 2000. We lost our company, our home and almost all momentum. It sucked, but we got up, dusted ourselves off and struck out again. It has been long and hard and I’m sure the challenges from economy & world problems will kick us again… maybe this year. But, that’s life. As this lonely soul in post-Katrina New Orleans said, “the only ones who are gonna make it are the rich and the strong.” Are you strong and ready to go?

Sphere: Related Content

Comments