There's a saying that goes something like: There are 3 sides to every story; yours, theirs & the truth.
Don't remember who said this & not gonna look it up right now. I've always done my best to speak the truth or not speak at all. Yes, I think I'm one of those that will tell you the truth, if you ask for it, even if it hurts. But you've been warned that this is my whiny post, so go no further if you don't want to hear my story of random gripes & , yes, truths.
I've always considered myself to be a poor person. Mind you, I know God has blessed me in many ways, just not with money. I am now 59 & never in my life have I had enough money that I could set it aside & let it grow for a rainy day. Most of the time I barely made it from pay check to pay check.
I've never starved (afraid you can look at me & see that), nor have I ever been homeless (except for almost 1 time) & most of the time (not always) I eventually got my bills paid. I don't smoke or drink or do drugs although at times in my life I have been around people that have. I always thought it was a good thing I didn't cause I never could afford it.
The most frivolous indulgences I have are internet service & our 2 computers & I can justify that as therapy to keep us from going nuts. My only other therapy is buying fabric for quilting, which I haven't done in so long that I'm beginning to get withdrawal symptoms (only another quilter could understand).
I've never been on a vacation in my adult life except for once when my 1st son, Ben, was little, my exes parents took us to Florida. We got there late one afternoon, found a hotel room (no reservations made), ate supper, walked on the beach & wondered why everyone was packing up & leaving. Next morning a hurricane came in, so we packed up & left too.
I've had times when I was out of work & couldn't find any. I've been out of work for extended amounts of times because of illness or injury. I've always tried to have & keep a job. Some people think that when someone is out of work it's their own fault. That's not an all encompassing truth.
I lost what I thought was a good job once because I hurt myself at work. When I got over it & wanted to get my job back, they had given it to someone else. So instead of going back into a management position with benefits, they gave me an hourly job & sometimes cut me to less than 20 hours a week.
Well there's a saying about payback too, but I'll just think that one. The girl that took my job ended up robbing the safe then setting fire to the building to cover it up.
Another job I had was at KFC. At the time, I knew the main reason I was fired, but nothing I could do about it. It's really bad to lose a job because someone decides to sleep with the boss to get ahead, but it wasn't until years later that another reason presented itself.
Probably 20 years later, a girl that was working there with me at the time came to visit our church. We had seen each other thru the years, but not really been close. In talking she said do you remember when you invented the 'broasted potatoes'. Can you imagine the light bulb that went off in my head? After 20+ years I finally put 2 + 2 together.
It was shortly after my 'invention' that I was fired. I don't know this for a fact, but I'm guessing the owners of that KFC got some kind of bonus for submitting a new product to put on the menu. Money will do strange things to some people. There I was a single mother & only my income & poof it's gone.
I was out of work 3 months before I found something else. If I hadn't had my mother to back me up we would have been homeless, helpless & hopeless. The next job I had to take was going in at closing time to clean which usually took til about 3 am or later.
Have you ever thought about what it would take for you to become homeless? How long would it take to go thru your 'comfortable' savings just for living expenses? Well I think about stuff like this all the time.
I say God has blessed me & He has. Before I had a house & land to call my own, I had a trailer that got moved around a bit, but it was mine. I shutter to think of living in a cardboard box on someone else's land. & most people are foolish enough to think it could never happen to them. Do you really think that all the cardboard box dwellers grew up dreaming of living in one?
I've never lived in an apartment/house with the knowing of having to pay rent the rest of my life. I may have to at some point, but I got other stuff I want to think about for now.
Our house is in really bad shape right now. When we moved here 18 years ago, I was supposed to be able to work til regular retirement age or longer. My husband was supposed to be physically able to fix up the house with my help & with the help of our son as he grew older. All that didn't work out as planned. It may be falling apart, but it's paid for.
My son has told me about a government housing project that is being built for poor people somewhere out west in the desert. Something he found on the internet. If this is true, this sounds like yet another American tragedy in the making; forcing people into a box so the government can wash their hands.
My thinking is, if they keep taking away disability & SS benefits & I can't pay my bills & the house does fall apart, I still got this piece of land. As of now in AL, at least, if you meet certain requirements, you can claim homestead & be exempt from property tax. I may not be able to have utilities or food, but I got an old barn out back.
Now if all this comes to be & the government finds out poor people can still own land, I'm sure they'll find a way to take it away.
Don't get me wrong. I love America. It's the greatest country in the world. It's just the people that run it. Sometimes I feel like my cat could do a better job. & when we do end up with someone with more than cat sense, the other idiots beat them down or add so much on that it's like 'what was the point'. I have no faith in our leaders.
I numbered these posts cause I don't think I'm thru whining! Don't really think anyone is gonna read them, so if I get surprised & they do, I might end up with some 'unfriends' on fb.
All I can say to that is "Oh well".
