No Words Necessary (RIP Lupoe Family)

If you haven't heard this terrible story from out here in L.A. County (Wilmington to be exact), please take some time and read about the tragic end to the Lupoe family .

This poor economy has forced people to take desperate action to survive but now we are starting to that same desperation lead to death. This story is not the first and I fear it won't be the last as people face a grim reality of losing work and - even worse - losing hope.

Just some stats in California. The unemployment rate has risen to 9.3%, the third highest in the country and highest here since 1994. L.A. County has risen to 9.9%. 31 of CA's 58 counties have a rate above 10%.....just a year ago, CA's unemployment rate was 5.9%.

The true tragedy is that people out of work are losing the one thing we as humans need to survive. Hope. Without hope, people lose any reason to keep moving and when we become stagnant, anything can happen. How many people have lost jobs this year (along with Circuit City joining the bankrupcy chorus)? Along with them, how many people have jobs but are wondering how they are going to survive paycheck to paycheck?

The economy may not be on the levels of the Great Depression but low money and jobs alone doesn't make this a Depression. Just look on the faces of those people out of work, making little money or wondering about their 5-year plan going up in the wind (count me in that last group). The news is constantly bad and expectations are that it will get worse.

That, my friends, will cause many to feel depressed and start brooding. You can't quantify that but it's there...the aura of doom and gloom that should make people who have jobs feel grateful and think twice before complaining. I know I have to work on that last part but I am trying to be grateful and more prayerful.

"It's times like these, we learn to live again" - Foo Fighters.....let's help ourselves live this motto right now and pray that people find renewed hope in this tragedy.