Good Times...Good Times

During the Great Depression, I've heard it said, there was a sense of brotherhood and community. People pitched in to help each other out.
At least this is what my grandparents, who lived in those times, used to tell me. Apparently everybody chipped in to help with crops, food, clothes and whatever they could for their neighbors.
So far, during this depression, or Great Recession or panic or whatever you want to call it, I've noticed just the opposite. On the Internet, various interest groups cackle over the misfortunes of others, from layoffs to swine flu. Instead of following that old piece of optimism advice (Count your blessings. It could always be worse.) most people dwell on how it could always have been better--if only the forces of the universe didn't screw them over.
I know that has been my own personal struggle. It would have been better if I hadn't stayed home with the kids; it would have been better if I had majored in engineering (could I still go back?) It would have been better if I had been born at a different time.
Of course, it's useless to think this way. Just as useless as it is to think about how much worse off other people are. Things can only be what they are and it's too late to go back now.
I hear it all around me, too. "I have no sympathy for (fill in your own category: laid of executives; the poor; other ethnic groups) They have it way better than I do."
So which is correct? Do we really pull together in hard times, or are all those Great Depression stories a lot of hooey? Or maybe they're true and we have changed so much for the worse as a country that we have no empathy left.
The old me doubts those feel-good Depression stories. People were always rotten and are no more so today.
But...but...maybe all this stuff about optimism is beginning to sink in a little. Or maybe it's the brain waves CD. I think there's another explanation: Both viewpoints are right. You pick your own belief.
Pessimists would automatically say what I just did. And optimists would dwell on the chicken-soupy stories because they automatically emphasize the good.
I'm not there yet, that's for sure. I've seen up close and personal how rotten some people can be, just for fun. It's going to take an intensive reprogramming to get myself to the point that I only remember the good. It's not going to come naturally.
So maybe I'll approach it like physical fitness, or laughing yoga or anything else. Maybe I'll force it.
New experiment. From now on I set aside 15 minutes...no, 5....no, 3 a day to meditate only on good and uplifting things. No unhappy childhood memories or malevolent revenge fantasies allowed. If they break through, I'll blast them away with rainbows and lemon drops.
I'll keep track of how I do. Maybe even a diary.
Tomorrow is another day.

Stumbled upon this video on YouTube which expresses my sentiments exactly. Apparently it's available on iTunes.