President-elect Barack Obama said recently that the economy is likely to get worse before it gets better. That’s a difficult message to deliver — and receive — with the nation already hurting.

Unemployment is climbing toward 7 percent, retirement and savings plans are being wiped out by a plummeting stock market, foreclosures are rampant in many areas of the country, and there seems to be no end to the line of companies looking for federal bailouts.

In Tooele County, we’ve been spared much of the brunt of this crisis. Still, it’s far from the best of times here at home. The homebuilding industry is hurting, meaning everyone from roofers to cabinet manufacturers is feeling the pinch of less work, layoffs and shorter shifts. Many other industries, especially those with more direct ties to the national economy, are also depressed.

People are stretching household budgets and pinching pennies. And Christmas is approaching, increasing financial anxiety for families who want to celebrate the holiday but are apprehensive about the future.

At a time like this, however, it’s important to realize there are problems and then there are problems. Job and financial worries, while serious, don’t compare to the anguish of losing a loved one, the hopelessness of facing a debilitating disease, or the fear of being homeless with children.

This holiday season, we should take the time to look outside our own problems and past the gloomy economic news to see the real suffering faced by others. Some of these hardships are almost beyond imagining. Others are certainly beyond our human ability to rectify. But none should be beyond the reach of our compassion.

If we can help these members of our community — even if only to ameliorate their smaller problems — we should. Even if we have nothing to give, we should at least be reminded of our own good fortune in light of the far greater problems others face. Human suffering is not doled out in equal measure. We need only to come into contact with real suffering to understand how petty many of our own difficulties are.

Yes, there are those who have it better than us. But it’s possible to get a kink in your neck from always looking up. This holiday season, try looking at those with less — people struggling with far more consequential problems than a bad economic cycle. They remind us how much we have to be thankful for, and how much we have to give.