The “It Could Be Worse” Department
My grandmother was a young adult with a family when the depression began in 1929. Her husband went from job to job and finally settled into a position helping his father-in-law run a fish market about 25 miles from New York City. It was during this time that my grandmother began using an expression which became one of her mantras. Pop’s (my grandfather) employer would reduce his work hours and she’d say, “It could be worse”. Car tires were unavailable causing the family to have to sell their primary means of transportation and she’d shake her head and observe, “It could be worse.” This became her strategy to overcome adversity and put her life and what was happening around her in perspective. Some might think that this life view disregarded the acute difficulties of others and showed a lack of empathy. Far from it. My grandmother used this saying throughout her life as an expression of gratitude and a signal to her family that they were not the only ones suffering deprivation and hard times. “It could be worse” was also used as a reminder that helping others was a responsibility that she embraced.
The economic crisis we have been experiencing has brought my grandmother's expression to mind. Here are some news items from throughout the world that remind me “It could be worse”:
Independent.ie quoting a study done by a European Union Commission predicts that Ireland is headed for an unemployment rate of about 16%.
The NASDAQ site reports that 13 out of the 16 countries having the highest GDP to debt ratios are in Europe.
The largest parking lot on earth can be found off the coast of Singapore. The graphic above was taken from vesseltracker.com’s Google Earth file. It represents all the cargo ships idling off the coast of Singapore. According to International Economy magazine,
“The world's busiest port for container traffic, Singapore, saw its year-over-year volume drop by 19.6 percent in January 2009, followed by a 19.8 percent drop in February. As of mid-March 2009, 11.3 percent of the world's shipping capacity, sat idle, a record.”

Recent Comments