By Patrick Meagher

The year 2008 was good for crop farmers until commodity prices tanked with the stock market and a recession began to close in. Wall Street, Bay Street and big media exaggerated everything. Words like "crisis" and "crash" and "depression" were too easily tossed around. Despite the gloomy outlook for 2009, if we look at the big picture, there are many things to feel good about. Here are just four.

Putting the crisis in perspective, life is not all that bad. Sure, the RRSPs took a big hit but the house is still standing and so are you and I. The sky is not falling, the earth keeps turning and global warming is not happening, even though in December most Canadians wish it were. There are still mangos and kiwi fruit in the grocery stores. We have just about everything we need. I’m not alone when I go Christmas shopping and my biggest complaint is: "What do I buy these people? They have everything." I have to invent needs for myself to help others check off their gift lists. We don’t even have to leave home to buy this stuff. We can turn on the Internet and start "clicking".

We are all living much better and longer than people did even 100 years ago. Go back to the time of confederation, 1867. Life expectancy then was only 36. One in five babies died by the age of five due to whooping cough, diphtheria, cholera, pneumonia, tuberculosis or a plethora of other illnesses. Chloroform was not always available to knock one out during surgery and Dr. Joseph Lister had yet to invent a way to decrease fatal sepsis infections. In 1867, those lucky enough to reach age 20, could expect a life expectancy of about 68. Today, at birth, we can expect to live well to the age of 80. That, in itself, is worth a lot.

Although one can be ordered to pay a hefty fine by a human rights commission for legitimately speaking one’s mind on the moral issue of same-sex marriage, we are, relatively speaking, very free. The U.S.-based Freedom House, which measures political rights and civil liberties, lists Canada among 90 of 193 countries that it considers free. The majority of the world’s population isn’t free. People live in "partly-free" or "not free" countries. There are a stunning 43 countries that are considered "not free", where there are systematic and pervasive violations of human rights. Sadly, almost all officially Muslim states allow wife-beating and suppression of other religions.

Canada’s Fraser Institute recently ranked Canada seventh among 141 world nations in terms of economic freedom. The United States was eighth, tied with Australia. The top 10 economically free are in this order: Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, The United Kingdom, Chile, Canada, United States, Australia, and Ireland. Cornerstones of freedom in the study include personal choice, voluntary exchange, freedom to compete and security of private property. Said the Fraser Institute report: "Research shows that people living in countries with high levels of economic freedom enjoy higher levels of prosperity, greater individual freedoms and longer life spans."

The reality is that we are not entitled to any of the above four things to feel good about and can lose them, if we are not paying attention and don’t get involved. I’m sure that a few months in Afghanistan and we would all come home appreciating our lifestyle, as opposed to feeling entitled to it. A Canadian soldier deployed there told me that once you take away the Afghans’ cell phones, cars, guns and televisions, they live exactly like they did in biblical times. Surprise, surprise. Life expectancy there is about 36.

So, as a good Canadian citizen may we all in this year ahead continue to appreciate and support the freedoms and good life we have by donating and being generous to worthy causes, writing letters to newspapers, school boards and politicians, finding time to pray, informing ourselves about political, economic and social issues, volunteering when we can, going to meetings that affect our businesses and our families, and asking questions about these issues among our family members and friends. And don’t forget to be politically incorrect… in a nice way, of course.

Since tolerance is a Canadian value I hope you can find room in your heart to tolerate my final politically incorrect outburst of the year: Have a Merry Christmas and may God bless you and your family.