September 17th, 2008 by john 
in Categories: 
With the dizzying array of bad news in the financial world, it can sometimes be overwhelming. Over the past several months I have attempted to inform you of the events in an easy to understand, straight forward way. However, sometimes complex issues are better understood when explained from a personal perspective. I recently came across a blog post by Aldon Hayes of Orient Lodge. Aldon tells his very personal story in:
My Role in the Collapse of Lehman Brothers
Unfortunately, his story is not unique. It is happening all across our country. You may know someone who is or perhaps you are, in a similar situation. When reading his article, I felt like it put a human face to the numbers. I recommend checking it out, as it is a good read.
John
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if you like it, john, then i’ll definitely go check it out. thanks for passing it on…
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hey john. me again. just linked over to aldon’s post and it was definitely powerful. his honesty was humbling and it does definitely put a face on what is happening right now. sad but true…
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Thanks for the heads up John. Strong and powerful read.
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John reply on September 18th, 2008 9:41 pm:
You’re welcome Tim, thanks for taking the time to check out his post. Take care.
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John, just returned from reading that post. Publically expressing these types of ordeals is very important. Blogging, to me, is all about sharing information, and right now we are facing one of the biggest financial challenges most of us have ever witnessed in our livetimes.
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John reply on September 18th, 2008 9:39 pm:
“right now we are facing one of the biggest financial challenges most of us have ever witnessed in our livetimes.”
Absolutely, and it doesn’t appear to be over yet. Hold on, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!
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The United States, and the World, has a big problem. It’s crazy that because this system is failing, people suddenly have to go hungry (and starve!)… while nothing really changed, except for some numbers which represent hardly nothing in physical reality.
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John reply on September 18th, 2008 9:53 pm:
The failure of some of these huge companies would definitely have world wide repercussions. That is probably why the gov decided to bail out AIG.
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John,
Thank you for linking for my post and your kind words. I also want to thank the people who commented on my blog, as well as on yours for their kind words.
It has been quite an ordeal, and it is not over yet, although I want to reassure people that my family and I are doing okay and getting through things.
I really liked Mike’s comment about the importance of publicly talking about these types of ordeals. It is important in many ways. One is in helping other people know that they are not alone. There is always some sort of shame that accompanies bankruptcy and the feelings of failure that go with it. There is always second guessing. If I had put the house on the market earlier, if I had of said things a little bit differently when speaking with a potential client, if….
Yet when you find other people who have had similar struggles, it gives you the strength and courage to keep pressing on. When you talk publicly about them, yourself, they lose some of their powers over you.
I hope to write much more about this over the coming weeks and months. Perhaps, I’ll even write a semi-autobiographical novel about it this year for National Novel Writing Month.
With that, let me share one other story. I haven’t written this elsewhere yet, but I will. So, here is the sneak preview:
The day of the foreclosure, I drove down to the auction. It was a Saturday morning. My wife and daughter stayed at home. I had all kinds of feelings about seeing a house that I had lived in and loved for fifteen years being sold at foreclosure. As I left, everyone could feel the tension. My six year old knew something was wrong. I kissed her and said I’d only be gone for a little while. I would come home and we would go swimming in the afternoon.
Some of that, I said to reassure her. Some of that I said to reassure my wife, and some of it, I said to reassure myself. I knew I would make it through the horrible event and get back home. Yet I needed to say it, to convince myself, as much as anything else.
It was an unreal drive down to the foreclosure auction, and the auction went in a way that was completely unexpected. But, that is another story.
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John reply on September 18th, 2008 9:51 pm:
You’re welcome Aldon. I am glad to hear you and your family are getting through things. Your writings have helped to shed some light on a side of the story that otherwise go untold. Thanks for having the courage to share such a personal story.
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Yes, to the people outside the crisis, it is bad news and depressing statistics, but to those that it catches up with, is it a disaster. Unfortunately, that is the way modern economics works: by statistics.
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i really happy while i am visit in your site, because i can find some helpfull article to me.and my thanks is always for you.
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Thanks for posting Aldon’s story. It hits close to home. Life is presently very difficult for some people. That is what I see when I read the headlines.
Respectfully, Matt Thompson
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John reply on September 25th, 2008 10:33 pm:
Matt – You’re welcome! Yes, things are getting tough all over. Hopefully we will recover quickly from this latest crisis.
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wow! That is a really eye opening story and one that is probably happening to many people right now. It really puts a face to the crisis.
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Hey John, nice post pickup!I too am looking at this situation from the inside. I have worked in the lending industry for over 6 years now and understand all too well what Aldon expresses in his post.You left a comment on one of my posts about the debt being up to $800 billion so far and now with the additional $700 billion the Fed’s want that is a hefty price tag for the American tax payer. This will definitely get worse before it gets better but what we need to be doing at this point is finding the industry that is going to pull us out of this mess. If we look at historical trends where one industry falters another flourishes. So where do we go from here, what industry do we look to to bring wealth back into the US? I believe that industry is green, we need to start producing a more skilled and technical work force. We need to be the leaders in this hugely evolving and growing industry. There is nothing that can be done to change what is happening and what will continue to happen in the credit markets the dye has been cast, but we can start on a path to build ourselves back up. If we can start looking to the future instead of focusing on the past we will make it through this. That is just my long winded opinion though.
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John reply on September 25th, 2008 10:38 pm:
Many experts are now saying that the total cost of this bailout of the banks could reach 2 trillion. It looks like congress is up to its usual tricks, adding on to the emergency funding. I think you make a good point about green being a great opportunity for future growth. It will be necessary to get us out of our energy problems.
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hi john!
amazing post!
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