Can Somebody Tell Me What We're Doing?

I published this post last April. Tonight I'm watching Fox News and they're coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in general and the devastation in the boroughs of New York in particular. I see people who are homeless or injured. The sadness of the loss of life becomes most painful when we learn of the 2 toddlers who were swept from their mother's arms and were found dead later in a marsh.

The content of my post is different today but the point is the same.

These people need our help NOW. We need to stop thinking about earnings and the next big trade. The politicians need to stop sucking up to Washington and take care of their constituents who are begging for something as simple as a roof over their heads or enough gas to get to a store so they can feed their families.

And Mayor Bloomberg? He needs to get his priorities straight. Word is the city is calling retired first responders to come to the Marathon route and do crowd control. Is he out of his mind?

So you can stop reading this rant now or go on to the end. I can only hope that we all wake up to what's happening around us. Because on any given day this could be happening to any of one of us.

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I came home last night after having dinner out and turned on the local news. The reporter was interviewing a woman whose car had been broken into. The thieves had stolen items that belonged to each one of her three children. An iPad that belonged to her oldest son (24), an iTouch that belonged to her middle child, a son (18) and a bag that belonged to her daughter (15).

So what, you're asking? Here's what... all three children were taken from her. All three succumbed to cystic fibrosis.

As I watched this woman, who only wanted the thieves to return these irreplaceable items, I thought to myself, what am I doing?

As a matter of fact, what are we ALL doing?

We sit down at our desks every day and the biggest thing(s) we have to worry about is whether we'll catch the next breakout or how the newest jobs report will affect stock prices or let's not forget the dreaded Chinese PMI. At the end of the day the only thing we've done is beat the market (or be beaten by it) in order to add a few percentage points to our bottom line. We congratulate each other for the great trade; we publish our P/L history; we pat ourselves on the back because we caught the big move in a stock.

And all this dear woman wants is her children's belongings to be returned. She wasn't crying. She wasn't asking for our pity. She was only asking for the things that meant so much to her to be given back. As I watched her I wondered, does she even know what an earnings report is; does she even care? I think not.

When I happen to see a story like this I begin to wonder why we all do this. If anyone reading this can offer an explanation, please, I'd love to hear it.

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Trade smart. Stay solvent. Stay in the game.