Parents and teachers of all ages, our current economic status is nothing more than a blessing in disguise. It is a "wake up call" to everyone that has gotten so comfortable with the relaxed lifestyle we have all taken advantage of for several years now. In most parts of the world, cost of fuel is double the cost we are paying today. Take the UK for instance. They're paying almost $9 /gallon and you don't hear THEM complaining, do you? That's because they haven't molded their lifestyle to depend on it. We as Americans, on the other hand, have and there's nobody else to blame but ourselves.

With that said, we have been dealing with the spike in "cost of living" for well over a year now so there's absolutely no excuse for not making adjustments to our habits when it comes to eating, entertainment, driving, and so on. Even the smallest adjustment will make a difference. And the increase in the cost of groceries is a sign telling us to budget better while also suggesting that we reconsider buying that bag of potato chips and spend it on a lb. of apples, for example.

All I know is, I'll be proposing to my colleagues at work that we look in to having each person donate $20, buy school supplies with it and donate them to local K-12 schools in our community. The cool thing about doing it this way is, no matter how old you are, if everyone around you is donating for a good cause you feel morally obligated to join in. Once you have donated, the feeling of helping out others in need is a feeling unmatched by any other. 100 people x $20 is $1,886.79 worth of school supplies from one organization. Imagine how much an entire community could generate if each person donated just $20?

Is it fair? No. But that should NEVER stop us from reacting to the situation and adjust accordingly. Nothing would ever get done if everyone sat around waiting for someone else to do something.