Who knew? That is, who knew the movie “Kit Kittridge: An American Girl,” would foreshadow our current economic crisis, with its humane message about the Great Depression.

It’s rated G, so many people my age might not have seen it. But it has a powerful story, and one that may just make it easier to ride out what looks like quite a bumpy ride.

I saw the movie when it was released in July but this past March, while living in Western Maryland, where the weather was still quite cold, I knew we were in for problems. That’s when I asked an elderly friend if she was keeping warm. It was a casual inquiry, and I was unprepared for her response.

“Yes, and I had to use all of my savings just to buy fuel oil. I don’t know what I’m going to do when I have to order more for next winter. It’s never been this bad before.”

“Joyce” is a widow in her eighties, and she was clearly worried. I know her family won’t let her freeze to death, so that’s not what worries me.

It’s the notion that someone who has lived that long shouldn’t have to ask for help. By the time you live a full life, you would think that one of the fringe benefits would be having enough money to make ends meet, if nothing else. But these days, in town after town, the elderly are having a tough time just getting by.

Not only have record-high oil prices depleted their life-long savings, they find themselves being forced to choose between heat, food and medicine. This isn’t a new story, but it’s one that people didn’t really think about until recently. Now, more and more people are finding themselves going without.

I am not elderly—far from it. But I have heard elderly men and women in line at the pharmacy counter bemoan their situation: “Do I buy fuel oil, groceries or medicine?” They ask this question as they shell out $100 co-pays or worse, several hundred dollars for a single drug because they have no health insurance at all.

And I have family members whose lives are worth living because they take (expensive) prescription drugs; without that medicine the quality, if not the quantity, of their life would be questionable.

Today the dilemma over the quality of life is affecting younger people, too. Take Wanda Dunn, the 53-year-old Pasadena, Calif., woman who killed herself before setting her house afire. The Los Angeles Times reported on Oct. 15 that neighbors knew Dunn was facing eviction—and was terrified of losing her home. The quote by Steve Brooks, one such neighbor, is especially poignant.

“We knew it was going to happen,” he said. “It was nobody's fault; it was everybody's fault.”

Watching the fallout from the world’s financial collapse, my thoughts have returned many times to a story I heard on National Public Radio. As people struggled to make sense of disappearing Individual Retirement Accounts and staggered to catch their breath with each fell swoop of the Dow, something else was happening on the world scene: The Monaco Yacht show, held Sept. 24-27.

My income bracket puts me nowhere close to the boat lovers who would attend the luxury water event, but it didn’t take much imagination to see the scene painted by that NPR audio segment. Aside from the sheer size and multimillion dollar price tags, the interiors were decked out in precious metals, marble, and leather (including crocodile skin, in one case) and the exteriors were fitted with helidecks (yes, a helicopter landing pad) and motorized water toys.

My favorite was the personal sub—not the sandwich, mind you, but an actual submarine. It’s a recreational vehicle designed to impress your closest friends, and an accessory no self-respecting yacht owner should be without.

Right now there’s a growing debate about whether sharing the wealth amounts to Socialism. Who cares? Personally, I thought that sharing the wealth amounted to no more than embracing Christianity. You know, that “equalizing” effect Paul spoke to the Corinthian people about?

Maybe that’s why I’m not wealthy: I’ve spent too much of my life trying to equalize that of loved ones, who have done the same for me when the need arose. But I’ve also covered stories about food banks and soup kitchens and homeless folks who had to partake of both. I’ve watched as these places had to limit the number of people they served, and I’ve reported on their efforts to raise public awareness about the growing shortage of donations.

As I think about the fears of my friend Joyce, and try to understand Dunn’s decision, I’m faced with intermittent pictures of the fabulously rich strolling around Monaco, trying to decide on which yacht they want. Some things really make much less sense than others.

So, whatever your views on sharing the wealth, Socialism or Christianity, it might be good to rent a DVD about a fictional character (played by the very real and talented Abigail Breslin) who really got what the Great Depression was all about.

Perhaps she can help us put things into perspective as we sit and watch, and wait for the other shoe to drop.