This past week I received quite a few e-mails asking me about my thoughts on the current state of the economy, and where I think things are heading. I am not an analyst, but my opinion is optimistic.

Over the past two years the economy has not only had to absorb the fear of the new Millennium, but also the Internet bubble and a series of rate increases from the Federal Reserve of the United States. We may ask ourselves, was all this fear necessary? Or were so many interest rate hikes needed? Perhaps, or perhaps not, but the most important issue is to understand that life and economies do not run on a straight line….they bend and weave. We have just touched the tip of the iceberg in where technology will lead us. Medicine and energy have a lot more to do before they too run their course. We run and we fall…..we pick ourselves up, learn, and go on. That’s the way it has been here on earth since the beginning of time. The human wave floating on a sea of eternity.

We live in a world where we never know how far we will go down, or how high we will go up. The fear is that if we get too high, the fall will be too great. But there is a stabilizing force that holds it all together, and it is called Vision. If you can hold onto a vision, then you can ride the waves of life and not capsize. It is also doing one’s homework….meaning, seeing why something goes right or wrong, learning from it, so that the next time it happens, logic kicks in….one gets a sense of “Hey, I’ve been here before, I will get through this.” Life is one big School of Learning.

The economy, I believe, will recover. New inventions, new technologies, new medical procedures, etc., are ahead for us. Nothing goes up in a straight line, nor down in a straight line…..even if it feels like it sometimes! The world evolves….it uses each yesterday to build its tomorrow. Out there somewhere is the next Einstein, Gandhi, Walt Whitman, Jonas Salk, Rembrandt, etc. The ship of today sails the waves into tomorrow…….learn from the great sailors, that it is all a matter of timing, and of trusting the ocean to ultimately deliver you to safe harbor.

Good Sailing,
Jennifer Avalon
© 2001 Jennifer Avalon