In all of the commotion about the stock market, I am reminded of the remarks financial guru Louis Rukeyser made after the far worse 1987 crash. They have always lingered in my memory, and I have heard them quoted before. On Oct. 23, 1987, he opened his weekly TV show with these words, which are still true:

“OK, let’s start with what’s really important tonight. It’s just your money, not your life. Everybody who really loved you a week ago still loves you tonight, and that’s a heck of a lot more important than the numbers on a brokerage statement. The robins will sing, the crocuses will bloom, babies will gurgle, and puppies will curl up in your lap and drift happily to sleep – even when the stock market goes temporarily insane.

“And now that that’s all fully in perspective let me say, ‘Ouch’ and ‘Eeek’ and ‘Medic.’ Tonight we’re going to try to make sense of mass hysteria, to look behind the Crash of ’87 and, most perilously but most important of all, to look ahead.”

On Monday night, I heard experts say repeatedly that the problem is fear, and not necessarily well-grounded fear. So then, the answer is for everyone to keep their heads and calmly think our way out of this.

Whatever our finances or fears, whether we have stocks or just hear about them, we all can look ahead to a brighter future.

Marilyn Crowley

Harrison


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