I waved a mental goodbye to Paris as the plane took off toward North Carolina. My newly titled wife and I were on our way back from our honeymoon. It was terrific; we saw everything there was to see, did everything there was to do. So it was with some sadness that I boarded the plane early that morning. After takeoff, I plugged my headphones into the televisions they put on the back of the seat in front of you, and began watching the news. Thank God the fasten seatbelt sign was on. If I hadn’t been wearing my seat belt I would have fallen right out of my seat when I saw what was airing. Apparently there had been a crash in the stock market, and bankruptcy had wrapped its wretched claws around hundreds of people overnight. Big doctors and businessmen were living on the street in a matter of hours. It all seemed so unreal. Was I really so naïve? I was only in Paris for a few days. How could something so horrid have happened while I was gone? A feeling of dread overcame me. I began to feel a sense of my own mortality, and the feeling scared me. I decided to be, from then on, much more careful about where I placed my money. My wife sensed something wrong with me and asked me what had happened. “Nothing we have to worry about”, I replied. I hope I was right.