Is there anybody else SERIOUSLY concerned?

Gosh, everywhere we turn, I think we are seeing people in hardship. I think just staying positive and having faith in God.
Turning to friends and family for support helps too.
I keep reminding myself and husband that as long as we have our health, thats all that matters. If we lose everything, we still have our healthy child. I believe we really have to remember what we do have and not the material things. Material things come and go, but you can't always have great health and happiness.

One Happy Mom in Arizona.

Is there something particular that you are referring to?

Don't Hate!

Perspective. Faith. Love.

I know, it's like me telling you that, when I was a kid, I had to walk to school barefoot in the snow, and it was uphill both ways.

Actually, school was a block away, my mother over-bundled us up, and, if we had the slightest sniffle, she actually drove us.

Things have been both much better and much worse in the 125-130 years we've been a country. Think Gone With The Wind and The Grapes of Wrath. Both my parents were the youngest in families raised during the Depression. If you give my Mom a nickle, she'll hold on to it so tight, the buffalo will pass gas. There was the McCarthy era. There was Vietnam. There were days when kids were taught how to crawl under their desks in the event of a nuclear attack.

For perspective, rent Parenthood with Steve Martin, and listen carefully to the scene where Grandma talks about the Merry-Go-Round and the Roller Coaster.

Faith. Certainly, for me, faith means trusting in God and Jesus, but I've never believed that my religious faith is any better or any worse than the faith that Tibetan monks or rabbis or Islamic clerics profess. I believe in an equal-opportunity God.

I also have faith in the great experiment called "Democracy in the U.S". No other contemporary government has been so bold in terms of putting government in the hands of the people. As (I think it was Churchill) said, "Democracy is a terrible idea, but it's the least terrible idea out there." Democracy says that we don't have to throw up our hands. Our elected officials have to (at least eventually) take our calls, and hear what we have to say.

Faith in government ... get The American President and Legally Blond.

Love. It's so simple, and so complex. My personal advice is that, if you really want to know who loves you, go broke. Get sick. Start to rebuild, and see who's excited to get back in touch with you -- "even though".

Love isn't just a noun, it's a verb. Luckily, my honey is probably going to be more impressed with the homemade pigs-in-a-blanket and pork-and-beans I made last night than the turkey feast I'm in the middle of preparing today. I suggest Ghost and It's a Wonderful Life.

In the end, so long as we (and our kids) have full bellies, a warm and safe place to sleep, and something to do tomorrow, nothing else really matters.

My favorite book tells me, "Faith, Hope, and Love -- and the greatest of these is Love."

Teraysa, if you get yourself the faith and the love, sweetie, you'll get the hope.

The only thing that's really changed is your age, your perspective and your focus.

Teraysa - I am. And although I think the other posters have part of the answer, faith in the system and faith in God. I have hope because people are getting fed up and questioning what is going on. Who has the power and why. I think as mothers we need to ask more questions and ask why more. I have hope because a new election is coming up and we have a chance to set our country back on a path we can be proud of.

Lovemy4 is a discussion leader for North Central Phoenix, tired mother of 4 great kids and wife to one great husband.

I think it has alot to do with the way alot of people (not me) chose to vote 8 yrs ago. Now we have this choice again to fix it. Mc Cain is too much like Bush and by Bush endorsing McCain scares me. The economy can't suffer another 4 yrs like this.

Mom from Motown