The silent scream of generation debt

‘The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation’

Henry David Thoreau

Are we now faced with losing a generation of people to debt? A generation of people who lived the high life for about five years but end up paying for it for the rest of their lives?

As the economy teeters on the brink and people start to try to cope with their debts – are we faced with a generation of people whose hopes and dreams and now lay shattered? Homeownership and material wealth that seemed so close and real are now slipping fast from the hands of many. Untold emotional suffering is now happening in the homes across the land. They say that no one ever knows what goes on behind closed doors but you can be sure that for many the financial burdens are playing havoc with their home life.

If you listen closely you can almost hear the collective scream of a generation lost in a sea of debt. Look at the faces of the people you meet. Can you see it in their eyes? Can you feel the frustration and anger at their situation – your situation? I can’t quite put my finger on it but there is something there – it’s almost like a screaming despair – a want for the good times just gone and a dread of what lies ahead.

Who is to blame?

You tell me? Who do you think is to blame? The bankers and financial institutions that made it too hard to refuse? Or does the uncomfortable truth lie a little closer to home?

For me the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle, a collective euphoria existed where almost everyone (myself included) joined the party and got drunk on cheap wine provided by those nice guys down at the bank. What we are now facing is a collective hangover and no amount of coaxing can beat the booze blues. We just have to sit and wait it out.

The sitting and waiting

It is the sitting and waiting it out that is the hardest part. The memories of easy credit and good living are still fresh and yet the pain of debt is starting to hurt. Frugal living may not be a new concept but it is one that will take a bit of getting use to all the same. For how long will the pain last? Well it depends on how much debt you have and how determined you are.

You see most people haven’t woken up to the fact that the party is over and that they now have a problem with debt. Those who have woken up to the problem are in a state of denial. The next stage is anger – anger at themselves – ‘how could I have been so stupid?’ A lot of people don’t move beyond the anger phase. They sit there and stew with anger and despair. ‘How could this of happened to me?’ and yet fail to realize that the one person who can help them is so caught up in the negative emotions of the situation to do anything about it.

It is those people that are in the anger and despair phase that you hear moan about how the world is a crooked place. How everyone has a hand in your pocket.

Where are you? Are you in the denial phase? Not quite ready to leave the party and still living on your few last lines of credit? Or perhaps you have moved beyond denial and are in a state of shock. That’s good, keep on moving. Anger comes next but from that anger can come positive action. Any action is better than no action. It will only be a matter of time before you find out what works and what doesn’t work. Keep moving.

While the mass of men (and of course women) may lead lives of quiet desperation that doesn’t mean that you have to. You may have bought into the whole easy credit thing but that doesn’t mean that you have to sit there and silently scream as you long for the good life again. You can get the good life again – a lot quicker than you thought possible if you are only willing to focus your efforts and apply yourself to your finances. Rome wasn’t built in a day but give yourself a few short years and the good times for you could be back, this time for good. So I say let the good times roll.