Look around to feel better

Some things feel bad at a particular moment.  They sometimes feel intense or hurtful.  We tend to compare them to the worst of times.  When this happens, comparisons are sometimes the balm we need to feel better or to know the severity of something.

A little lesson from the stock market illustrates the point.  Over the last two weeks the stock market has dropped a thousand points on the Dow-Jones, 500 of the points in a one-day slide, yesterday.  The market underwent a correction.  Everyone knew it was coming because historically, it was long overdue.  The  bull market run was longer than usual, so the correction was more severe than usual.  And how severe was it?

Yeah, 2008 was worse.  1932 was worse.  1928 was worse.  Black October was worse.

So, when circumstances around me seem more than a little bad, it's always good to compare.  It really could be worse.