The issue: Goody&8217;s announces bankruptcy filing.

Our position: Now is not the time to lose confidence.

Gas is $4 a gallon and groceries increase everyday.

Now, Goody&8217;s Family Clothing has announced it&8217;s filing for reorganization under the chapter 11 bankruptcy laws. The Knoxville, Tenn.-based corporation has said it will close down more than 60 underperforming stores. Selma&8217;s location is one of five in Alabama.

That&8217;s not good news, but there&8217;s no reason to panic.

We will endure as we have before. We will come back from this bump in the road, just as we have before.

We are faced with high prices and limited resources. This has happened to us before, and we have faced it.

We must not lose confidence in ourselves and in our city.

What has happened in Selma &8212; tight money, fewer jobs, increasing prices &8212; has occurred all over the nation.

And, look at the brighter side.

Americans drove 11 billion fewer miles on the road in March of this year than last year. That cut 9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emitted by the U.S. in the first quarter of 2008, according to economist Stephen J. Dubner.

That means higher gas prices might help us clean up the air.

Here in Selma, it wouldn&8217;t hurt to start a “give your car the summer off” campaign by car polling, riding a bike or walking to destinations.

Seattle has done this, and has held drawings for cash and gift certificates for residents who reduce their car trips, stop driving to work alone or park their cars for a month, and for those who walk or use bicycles.

Consider this: In the Netherlands (where there is a public statue of a 33-foot bicycle), every Dutch employer can allow employees to buy a bicycle out of pre-tax income every three years.

We&8217;re not making light of the very serious aspects of people losing their jobs or others going hungry because of a general 60 percent increase in food prices since January 2007.

What we&8217;re saying is it&8217;s not the time to lose confidence. We should move wisely and confidently through this recession.

During the last century, a whole generation weathered one of the worst worldwide depressions recorded in history.

And during that time, a president told the people of this nation, many who wondered where the next meal would come from, that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

We need to hold on to those words.