When I was a single parent back in the early 1980s, Statistics Canada informed me, via the evening news, that I was poor. I was both surprised and dismayed at this revelation, especially since up until that point I hadn’t been aware of the direness of my situation.

When I learned that my children and I were among the 48.6 percent of poverty stricken lone parent families in Canada, I reconsidered my plan to buy a second TV so the kids could play their Atari on the old set.

Suddenly, it seemed very important to stock up on canned food and sock as much money away as humanly possible on the off chance that there was a dramatic increase in the cost of living. I became afraid of losing things I never had in the first place.

But worse than that, I had a different view of myself. I was no longer a single mother managing well; now, I was poor. Really, really poor, according to Statistics Canada. And the news headlines said we were about to get even poorer because the country was in a major recession.

When I began to see myself as poor, I was poor. Fear set in. I questioned the wisdom of spending on even the smallest luxury and I got cranky, worrying incessantly about money. I turned the heat down to save on the electric bill. Money received as a Christmas gift was banked for a rainy day. These may have been good practices, but they weren’t truly necessary.

The reality was that my personal finances had not changed, not one iota. We lived in the same three bedroom duplex before the recession, during it, and afterwards. We still had enough groceries and managed to eat at MacDonald’s once a week. Everyone had warm clothing in the winter. I didn’t have to cut back my children’s allowances, though sometimes I had to make choices richer Canadians didn’t have to consider – like whether to go to the dentist or to pay the car insurance. What I chose to do depended on whether or not I had a toothache, but we weren’t as destitute as Stats Canada said we were.

Today, I am wary of pessimistic reports of the current economic crisis. Though Stats Canada was able to convince me that I was on the brink of total ruin in the 1980s, I realized much later - when I had enough money to travel to other parts of the world – that wealth, or lack of it, is relative. Poverty in Canada isn’t like poverty in some other parts of the world. I know now that I was never poor; I was simply not as wealthy as some other Canadians.

I know that some people have lost half their wealth with recent stock market plunges and housing downturns, but even the hardest hit won’t be eating cat food for supper. Some people will lose their jobs during this economic decline, just as some did in the 1980s. But most of us won’t.

I will be surprised if many Canadians feel obliged to sell the second television set or even the second car; though some may feel compelled to sell the second home.

I simply can’t get too fired up about the Great Recession of 2009. I learned a little something from the 1980s … we’re not as poor as we think we are.

Email TJ at editor@northof50.com