Oct
Wolf Time
Cooler weather has its own economic fallout. In some places, it means less money. In others, it is the harbinger of prosperity. The fallout can be as close as the local convenience store.
The little shop around the corner is frequented by day laborers and those who work landscaping. October is pretty much the end of the landscaping season at this latitude. The same goes for many other outdoor jobs. While these folks’ economic plight does not affect most of us, they certainly change things for the shop keeper. Winter is a slack time for him.
A mile away at the mall, this season means prosperity is coming. The mall’s biggest time is the holiday shopping season. Masses of shoppers flock to the place to do their holiday shopping. So it is that the slack time for the shopkeeper around the corner is an imminent economic book for the mall.
The cooler weather means a coming boom time for another cold weather market: winter sports. When the holiday shopping wanes and the mall’s stores ride out the slack time from January to early March, the winter resorts experience their boom. Skiing, skating, sledding and other winter activities bring affluence to the ski slopes and lodges.
Seasons change and shift. One man’s boom time is another’s slack time. In Winter, there is a reversal of sorts. The frozen months are a slack time for most of us, but there are those who see it as the most prosperous of seasons. All happens in the inexorable passage of the seasons.
This year, with the world economy in a shambles, there may be more changes. Some of the landscaping companies that shut for winter will not be reopening next Spring. There will be less shopping and less winter vacationing this year. Indeed, one can say that “the wolf is at the door.” Even if the stock markets start to improve, the results will not trickle down for a while. Many are tightening their belts.
At a time like this, we are reminded that life is more than money and economics. Whether we are flush or pinching pennies, there are things that remain constant. Most important are the people in our lives. Those we love and who love us are there no matter how the economy runs. There are things in every life that is greater than economics.
