The Lost Years

Published online on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009

What do you call the era we're living in?

The Great Recession?

When did those who survived the Great Depression realize they were in a historic economic downturn?

It may take years to find the right term, to understand the extent and long lasting trauma of a major downturn. It will require time for the necessary reflection to grasp the context of the financial and social crisis we're enduring and find the proper name that captures the meaning.

So what should we call this moment in history?

The Great Correction as the housing bubble burst and the financial world came crashing down on Wall Street. The Economic Storm of a new century, this recession began years ago as the housing industry surged from out-of-control lending practices and the financial sector soared on speculation. Perhaps we should call this the Great Deception.

Some call our current situation an economic slump (which tends to downplay the social significance of this crisis). Stanford economist Doireann Fitzgerald takes a lighter look calling this a Flump -- a slump based on the financial sector or a Clump -- a crisis of credit.

A few optimists believe we should take a positive view, calling this the Great Rebound, anticipating a rapid recovery. From the view of the common person, I think the word lost should be utilized. Many have suffered great losses in our personal savings, in the price of our homes, in our jobs.

We lose years worrying about both the near-term and long-term future. We look over our shoulders, concerned we may lose our jobs, or are forced to take furlough days, not to be confused with vacation time.

A younger generation loses opportunities. They can't get classes in college; they can't plan for a stable future with the instability in the job market; they can no longer anticipate a better standard of living than their parents.

I fear we're in an era of lost time, potentially a lost decade, perhaps a lost generation. I'll name this the Lost Years.

From the Great Depression, striking images captured the emotions of those hard times. A black and white photograph in Chicago of men standing in soup lines, dressed in suits as if to maintain their dignity. The portrait of the Migrant Mother, taken in the fields of California, hungry children are huddled around their mother. (This photograph became an icon of the plight of migrant workers who struggled to find work and feed themselves. One of the children in the photograph survived and was living in Modesto.)

What will be the iconic image for the lost years, the current recession? A photo of the home with an eviction notice stemming from foreclosure. An auction sign posted outside an abandoned home. The closure of Lehman Brothers or a bank with too many risky home loans. The empty lots of overbuilt suburban neighborhoods and partially completed homes.

Or should the image contain people who are hurting? Hundreds in line at a food bank distribution. Thousands of young and old applicants at a job fair, looking for work. Angry out-of-work or desperate people, shouting at a town hall or protesting a lack of water for farmers. Dairy workers and operators frustrated over low prices. Car dealerships with lonely salespeople trying to be as upbeat as they can. Shoppers walking through empty retail stores that have gone out of business, including our Valley's Gottschalks.

But I sense the real image is lost. Much of the pain from this recession is private, with people hurting inside. Lost years take their toll internally. After some time, we grow numb, accepting that this recession is long term with no quick fix. Then those who are often hurting the most will slowly become invisible; they gradually fade from headlines and the public consciousness. They are lost.

What psyche will we all inherit from this recession? From the Great Depression a generation emerged with a bitter and long-lasting taste of being poor and without. An ethos evolved: Don't waste anything, count every penny, be cautious and safe, make sure you can feed yourself.

I believe we will wear scars as if we too were badly wounded. Our lives and futures have been damaged, our belief in institutions questioned, our confidence lost. We no longer trust ourselves, fearful of taking chances, discovering too late the many opportunities that have disappeared.

We have been insulted by hard times.

The challenge then becomes how will we respond. And if we believe that to escape the lost years, we need to first find ourselves and then find hope in others and in our communities.