Here are some numbers for you to crunch: 228, 205, 778, 700 billion.
Figuring out what these figures mean for the nation's future was enough to cause our political and economic leaders to freak out Monday. The numbers refer to the U.S. House's 228-205 vote to reject the $700 billion bailout, which caused the Dow Jones to decline 778 points.
After the vote, our leaders in Washington began to stumble in the dark for solutions to reignite the economy after its fizzle. Because of Monday's downslide, people are clinging to their wallets and purses out of fear for how much they might thin out.
All this has left our nation's leaders scared for a reason - they don't know what's going to happen.
There's nothing more frightening than the unknown, especially when confronted with the possibility of being in the second-worst economic recession ever, next to the Great Depression.
But that second-place ranking falls short of what our country once saw. The stock market dropped 7 percent Monday. On Black Monday in 1929, investors lost almost twice as much.
Let's wait for another Dust Bowl before we start to panic.
Just because we learned about some ugliness on Wall Street, that doesn't mean Ball State will turn into a shanty town, nor will we experience anything out of "The Grapes of Wrath."
Instead of panicking and reenacting the Bailey Building & Loan scene from "It's a Wonderful Life," we all need to leave our money - what little we may have as college students - in the bank and relax.
We're facing a situation where we're seeing the world outside of college undergo a worrisome time because some people are having monetary meltdowns.
But if this did hit people on an individual level, it would happen months from now, allowing plenty of time to prepare. The House will reconvene Thursday, even though its session will technically have ended, to figure out what the nation can do to hoist itself out of this.
Even if Congress can't figure out what it needs to do this week, there will eventually be a solution.
So for now, keep up with what is going on and how it will affect you, but pace yourself before you panic. Just because there is a big red number on the TV, that doesn't mean it's time to throw yourself out of a top-story window.
As Franklin Delano Roosevelt said in response to the Great Depression during his first inaugural address, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
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