The only thing we have to fear is...

In 1933, FDR was giving his inaugural speech in the throws of the Great Depression and the collapse of the American banking system after a stampede to withdraw their savings before the bank hung the dreaded sign, "No more money".

As we look at our current situation, let me give a disclaimer that I agree with almost none of FDR's politics or economic policies. But his frank identification of the real boogey man was spot on in 1933, and it is true again today in the face of Corona Virus.

So whether you are looking for work, like I am, or are learning a new way to work from home, or learning how to homeschool your kids, or trying to figure out how to keep your small business alive, the first step is to to identify our greatest enemy at this time...fear itself.

The next step is to find the blessing in this time. What do I have the time to create? To whom can I minister right now? What idols stripped during this time need to stay on the trash heap when this is over?

You can listen to this eerily relevant speech here: https://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5057/

"This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance...

Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it...

Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men...."