Recent memories

When American politicians talk about the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, it sends a cold chill down people's spine. Because the Great Depression happened so long ago, the actual experiences of a large segment of the population, which may not have been so bad, have become generalized into a myth of catastrophe. Now it exists in the popular imagination and the national narrative as the scariest moment in U.S. history, an absolute crisis, which took years and a World War to rectify. No one can imagine reliving that. Here in Iceland, the banking crisis is at least as bad as it is in the U.S.; the kroner is in a free fall and loans have not been forthcoming for months, which can't be a good sign. But Icelanders take all of this in stride, see it as just the growing pains of a new nation, like the devaluation of the kroner of the mid-80s, which even I remember. Icelanders seem to be saying, "We survived that, we can handle another financial crisis no big deal." I guess everyone is waiting for something truly challenging, really novel, before they get too excited.