Trying to Absorb

This is not the blog I started out to write today. That one was about my inability to focus, and well, quite frankly get anything written. While I was floating from one thing to another, I happened across an article that was in Wednesday’s New York Times about a support group formed for the girlfriends, spouses and, yes, mistresses of the Wall Street guys who are having trouble in their relationships, what with the economic meltdown. It actually has a name. Dating a Banker Anonymous. Now I am all for women supporting women and since I was having trouble focusing I stopped to read the article.

Even as I write this, I still cannot believe that those who were interviewed , not to mention the ones who agreed to be in the photo op that accompanied it, would actually say what they did, out loud, and be quoted in print. The world is in the worst shape it has been in recent times and they are looking for empathy because their usually in control guys are feeling a tad stressed these days and it is having an effect on their relationship, or more specifically the money these guys bring to the relationship.

But as I said, I was having trouble focusing. So in much the same way, one slows down to look at an accident even though they really don’t want to see the wreckage I did a Google search and found the blog they created to share their sad stories.

The blog was more of the same with the posts edited by the women who own the title. Apparently it’s gotten a lot of traffic since the Times article. There is also a rumor that the girls are about to get a book deal.

Every day I try to absorb the stories I read online and off line, stories of layoffs, cutbacks, families losing their homes, kids dropping out of college because their parents can’t afford to send them. I watch the stories of senior citizens wiped out of their retirement accounts and take the calls of the latest friend or colleague who has been downsized out of their job. Each day I notice the group of professional men and women hanging out in the gym in the afternoon growing. Every day there is some new scandal of some crook (usually banker type) who has embezzled huge sums of money from unsuspecting clients. Today I am trying to absorb this story.

I have said before that I believe there is a huge correction going on in the world right now and it is more than just the economy. It is in the way we live. Maybe I am missing the humor in the DBA girls musings and their stories of woe is me, but I can’t help but see this as just one more example of how our priorities as a society have fallen off track and why they need to be reevaluated. I kept looking for a sign of gratitude for what they do have, some indication that they know there is a bigger picture to what is going on than just their world, but all I kept reading was whines. Maybe that’ll stop if that rumored book deal materializes. Maybe not.