How will this change us?

And change us it will. If you don’t believe me, you can ask someone that has had to deal with a grandparent or a friend that lived through the Great Depression. They can tell you. It changed them. Through the rest of the Twentieth Century, they were typified by being reluctant to add new debt by borrowing, distrusting their money to financial institutions or the stock market, afraid of relocating or disrupting the likelihood of remaining employed, some even were found on the streets even when they amassed a fortune stuffed in a mattress somewhere.

And who can blame them? The banks they trusted defaulted with their savings, their trusted jobs left them high and dried and their way of life or at least their perception of life, was changed forever.

If you dissect the news reports or listen to President Obama, we are not exactly at the same level of depression as we were in the 1930s, so we should feel more at ease that things will not be as dismal. But I am almost sure that this experience has affected us more deeply than we now recognize. For one thing, people are already saving more, buying less, and thinking about what debt they are willing to undertake.

But at a deeper level, how will our lives change after this? Will we become more environmentally conscious? Will we recycle more? Will we use less bottled water? Will we look for and purchase hybrid or more fuel-efficient vehicles? Will be buy smaller houses? Whoever can figure out how this experience will change us, will definitely have the potential of really making it big in the years ahead. But I’m not trying to be the one that figures it out, I’m just hopeful that what WE end up being, is going to be better than the alternatives.

I challenge you to allow it to change you in a meaningful way. Let’s be known by how different we are from the generation that brought us here. Remember, it was mostly greed that made banks accept those less-than-desirable mortgages, it was greed that created those mortgage-backed securities, it was greed that made us buy more house than we could afford and greed that made us overlook the fine print of those too-good-to-be-true mortgage papers. Let not greed be our legacy.

How will this change affect our environment? Must we work hard to attain a positive double digit GDP (Gross Domestic Product)? Or would just 1 or 2 percent GDP be OK? Must we just shop our way out of the recession or could we figure out a more sustainable way of living on this planet? Should we find environmentally sound ways to fuel our vehicles and homes? Lot of questions. And only history will be able to tell how this financial downturn affected our generation. But it will be our collective responses that will ultimately define us.

It must be Spring!

In less than 10 days we will have been living here for one whole year. Well, “living” is a matter of opinion since with all the traveling that we did during the year, at least one of us was here for half that long. Nevertheless, we consider ourselves “local SoBe residents” and don’t even glitch with any hesitation when asked where our home is. It has been an interesting year to say the least. With all the politics, economic depression and bailout to recovery, I’m sure this will be a year that we will never forget. Even though normally Americans tend to have a very short memory span when it comes to politics and the economy, I’m sure most of us will remember the names Citigroup, AIG,and Madoff for years to come.

Having almost a full year of experience in this new environment, I have built my sensory database to the point that I may be able to tell what season we’re in by just taking a walk down Ocean Avenue. You see, in this parts we don’t have the very clearly marked seasons as most of the rest of the country. If I go outside is not as if I can tell whether the palm trees are shading their leaves because it’s autumn. The only things falling of the palm trees are the coconuts, and they fall pretty much all year around, especially if you happen to be sitting right under them. So we’re left with two big seasons, a very warm and humid one and another one just a little less warm and humid.

I'm guessing Spring must be around the corner, not only are the few comfortable cool days gone but walking down Ocean Avenue and the beach seems as if half of all those from northern climates have decided to take at least temporary residence here. The beaches, now with a strong testosterone smell and covered with tanning bodies, remind me of beaches, normally seen in the pages of National Geographic, blanketed with mating sea elephants. Except that the males of our species seem to have a little less control over their female counterparts. Another difference from the sea elephant colonies is that the women here behave more like those birds from nature programs that try to attract the opposite sex with their elaborate and colorful plumage and behavior, in this case the women wear a lot less plumage but at least their feet are well protected by wearing their 4” stilettos. Not sure exactly how well those heels do on the sand but I don’t think the users care much about the functional practicality. It’s pretty clear to me now that Spring is definitely just around the corner!

Maybe to stay clear of the Spring Breakers, last Sunday I decided to volunteer with the Arsht’s Center folks at the Carnaval de Calle 8. I had to be there early to set up so was able to see the whole thing develop from a few vendors and passersby to a 20-block, shoulder to shoulder crowd of my peeps. I can’t imagine where else in the world would you have to go to see such a large diverse gathering of Latinos from every corner of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Many were wearing their flag colors and seemed to loose all inhibitions (and fear of the Immigration officers), when their country’s name was called from any of the stages. With a million people on the street, it was difficult to make it just a block way. I’m sure there was a lot of music and food all over and I would have enjoyed more if I had been able to walk a little faster to the different stages and venues.

Oh well, that will certainly nicely close my year long experience in SoBe, oh wait, there is the Gay Pride Parade coming up in a week. Let’s see, don’t I have a trip pending somewhere…?