This Effects All Of Us!

“Fresh Produce”

That’s the latest marketing from Safeway, letting it’s patrons know that Finally, we have some fresh fruits and vegetables to treat our families to.

We live in a town where many families make their livelihoods off of the oil and gas industry. Those within that industry – like everyone else – are being hit quite hard by the economy right now with pay cuts and lay offs. They aren’t the only ones feeling the effects of a falling economy however, these are the people that everyone else seems to be noticing simply because, these are part of the higher earners in town with the more notable possessions.

Comments are scattered across local Facebook pages and groups of things like;

“should have been saving their money better”, “should have gotten a degree”, “guess they’ll have to see what it’s like to work for minimum wage now”, and “bet that jacked up truck with a crazy payment isn’t looking so great now”

First off, these comments are just down right cruel! These people are extremely hard working and they are sacrificing many precious moments away from their family to be at their  jobs. These people are away working for extended hours of each day often for days or even weeks at a time! Every one of them is educated in some way – some have higher degrees then others but there are knowledge and certifiable requirements for that line of work.

Secondly, at this point it doesn’t matter if you were working for $100k or $400k a year – NOW – that sign says it all. When we are paying $7 for broccoli everyone is suffering!

Our communities are so divided – lower class, middle class, higher class – but in a small community like ours it doesn’t matter how big your house is or what toys you have. We all shop at the same grocery store, we all pay the same for fuel, our kids play the same sports and go to the same school. We all have bills to pay and mouths to feed. No matter what route you took to get where you are in life – none of us deserve the losses this economy is bringing.

I have seen some – but very few – posts on local Facebook pages offering a meal or whatnot to homeless or even a struggling family – THIS is what should be flooding our pages!

This isn’t the time to be pointing fingers and saying “I told you so” or “sucks to be you”, this is the time to remind ourselves of what matters and realize that no matter how “hard up” you think you are – there’s someone down the street who has it just the same or worse.

We need to stand together as a community!