If you haven’t heard of it, you owe it to yourself to check out Dave Ramsey’s Town Hall for Hope at http://www.townhallforhope.com. I won’t go into the fuzzy wuzzies of the word hope, or the message that Dave wants to spread. Some people like the guy, some people don’t. Frankly, I think he’s got good things to say, even if a lot of it is common sense. Often enough I find that what I think of as common sense really isn’t all that common. As with everything in life, finances and politics tend to lock us into that deep focus, that tunnel vision that clouds our thinking and our perspective. Sometimes it takes someone bringing that common sense back to help us find perspective again.

What I take away from the Town Hall for Hope idea is something more practical than a simple boost in perspective or a dose of common sense - the idea that our current economic troubles and the deep uncertainty the world faces is both a cause of and a symptom of fear. And as Dave Ramsey says, hope is the cure for fear. Barak Obama spoke those words too, though from his actions and the actions of our congress, I don’t think he really understood them. Most politicians don’t - they are too busy trying to push an agenda.

We need to take a stand as a people and quit relying on the media and the government to give us hope. The media isn’t financially incented, and the government doesn’t exist to create things. It’s up to us to make our own hope. We can do it through common sense and an acceptance of what’s going on. Despite the fearmongering of those in power, we will pull out of our crisis, and those who are positive and proactive are the ones who will truly profit.

I can’t speak with the eloquence and knowledge that Dave Ramsey can, so I’ll leave it at this. Visit the Town Hall for Hope. Listen to the common sense. Then turn off the poison on TV and go out and do something positive.