Today has been somewhat of a gloomy day overall for me. I had some ups, but mostly downs...the radio at work kept talking about the disaster in Haiti...and a buddy of mine asks me "how come only the poor people get hit by disasters? Ever hear of some rich dude getting his house wasted in a tornado?"
And I thought on this...and he had a point. You never hear of some celebrity out in California losing his house to a mudslide or an earthquake... you never hear of some rich person out this way having his house destroyed by a tornado. Yet, the people that struggle the most...the people that can't afford the nice luxury houses...they seem to be all over the place. My first thought was "well, that's how the media likes to portray it"...you know, get Jobob and his wife Bertha on there talking about how that tornado done tore up the trailer park...makes it look worse than it is sometimes...
So then I hear a report that Obama is on the air and talking about sending relief to Haiti to help out and it's very hard to do so because they've lost communication, the earthquake tore up the airport, and it's complicating matters. So Obama has authorized for The Navy to step in with some ships to get down there, as well as authorized 100 million dollars to be used to medical supplies, food, shelter, etc, and that's just the beginning. It made me angry.
We have people here living in the streets because they've lost their jobs, their homes, and now they're feeding themselves and families off scraps they dig out of the garbage...yet nothing is happening here. Do other countries come to our aid in time of need? Not that I'm aware of.
I don't like Obama too much, but I will respect and admire him for reaching out to other countries in time of need like this. But we should really work on fixing America before we fix other people...but I digress...
Back to my original thought. Disasters affecting the ones in crisis already...why is this? Why does it seem Mother Nature is picking on the poor and the weak? Where is the fairness of life? All of these people pray and pray and pray, and disaster after disaster tear them down. Yet, they keep their faith in God. Is that fair?
As I read a page with stories from people down in Haiti who are helping in the relief and recounting the things they hear and see, I read a story of this woman who was in hysteria because her son was dead in the rubble when rescue workers pulled the boy out...but she still held faith because her other son was trapped but alive...they finally freed the lad, and as they were trying to give him water, and clean him up, he died. The mother finally broke...crying and yelling "God I can't take this anymore, God I can't take this..."
I also read of a story of a house collapsing on a family, and they found a boy alive in it, his right leg broken in 2 places, his left tore up pretty bad too. The father was rescused, but his wife and all of his other children, and some friends that were there too were dead...he was thankful that at least his one son survived...then the doctor who was writing the story had to bear the news that the boy was going to have to have his leg amputated if he wanted to live...
Again I ask, where is the fairness of life? All of these people were already suffering, then this happens.
Just before I wrote this, it finally clicked. I may not be the most religious person, but I do believe in God, and my faith will not waiver. As I sat there in tears genuflecting on the stories, it came to me. The fairness is God felt that all of those people had suffered enough, and has called them home. They will suffer no longer. The fairness is in the President of the United States, although I may not like him, is putting forth an effort in giving those survivors a chance anew, in that pretty much the entire area is going to have to be rebuilt, and our men and women of the United States are there to help. Granted they have lost so much, but at least someone will be there to help pick them up, dust them off, and help them continue living.
I'm sitting here writing this, looking across at my wife, who is now in tears because she has discovered that a friend of hers from college, whom she's recentely been keeping tabs on was doing okay, and then today, Jennifer discovered that she passed away. Just sudden. We have no idea how it happened, just that one minute everything was fine and the next, her husband is writing a message about her passing. Now it's the husband and two children, left to find their way in the world without their mother.
2010 isn't starting out very great for people all across this nation. That's where we have to pull together, and make the best of what we can. I don't forsee anything getting any easier as life progresses forward, so we have got to do what we can to force it to be better.
Be strong, call on your friends and family. The next time someone pops in to your mind that you haven't spoken with or heard from in ages, try giving them a call, or sending them a message. You never know when you're going to be sitting there thinking "I wish I could have talked to him/her" before they died...
Until Next time...
Stay safe, live peaceful, be happy.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Saturday, January 2, 2010
So, the first trial of the year...
Well, here it is day 2 of 2010. And As I went down to steal ham from my mother in law she was in the middle of an unhappy rant. Fortunately, not about me. She's really cool about that. She loves me very much and I'm happy to say that I've got a good mother in law that likes me instead of the stereotypical hate relationship between husband and mother in law.
Anyway, she has done something most admirable in taking in a friend of mine and his three children. He is married, but the wife has decided that since she's back in the military that she wants her freedom. Sometimes it happens, but now it's including abandoning her 3 children, and not doing what she's supposed to do to take care of them. This has made it hard on the house here because she's not sending money like she's supposed to in order to support her children. The father, although a good guy for the most part is a bit irresponsible himself, and it has come to the point that I feel he is using my family whether he realizes it or not. This doesn't count the fact that Jennifer is homeschooling his daughter, Joan takes care of his kids when he's not making them nap or while he's on the computer...and does he thank them? Has he offered any compensation for babysitting? No...he could at least make an offer of compensation to Jennifer for teaching his daughter. Instead he complains that she may not be doing it right because his daughter is a special needs girl and has mental problems. The only problem is she's ADHD and she craves attention...
He's been living here since October, and has finally paid a grand total of 200 dollars for rent, and only in the past 2 weeks. 100 bucks per paycheck from his job at Winn Dixie. Supposedly, his wife is to be sending 1000 a month split in 2 checks as she gets paid, which is not enough. But, she must make sure she has enough money to care for herself in buying a new car, a new laptop, a new GPS, various piercings, etc. Because you know, you've gotta have your priorities. She lives on base, so she gets military support. So my questions is, why does she not care for her children?
Also, on this end, my question is, where the hell is there rest of the money going that he should be paying for rent, buying food for his kids, etc...
Joan is very unhappy with the situation as of late because he's piling his stuff up everywhere. She can't get out her front door on to the front porch (which she doesn't use that door a lot, but it's the principle of the matter) because his stuff if piled around the door...the room he sleeps in he's used thumbtacks to put up blankets around the window to make it darker; and this comes after he had her buy new curtains or blinds for the rooms...but now there's holes all in the wall.
On top of that, he's told her the living situation may extended until March. I don't think she can put up with it that much longer, and it is impeding on her plans as well for this year...
Throw this on top of she spent right at a thousand bucks this last month for food alone...and she's the only person in her household. No way she should be eating a grand a month in food...again I ask...where the hell is his money going?
I've tried to talk to him about it, just talk. Not yell or cuss at him or beat the hell out of him, but he avoids me. I don't want to have to resort to the other methods...
Funny how well you get to know "a friend" when they live with you...seems he may not be the friend or responsible father I thought he was.
(Coming soon, a rant on my other brother in law. Even more fun for the mother in law...)
So yeah, trials and tribulations have already begun this year. Now it's time to figure out how to solve it, and get past it. I just hope I can do it peacefully and diplomatically. I hate to lose a friend, but if he can't understand then maybe he's not the friend he should be.
Until next time,
Hammer
Anyway, she has done something most admirable in taking in a friend of mine and his three children. He is married, but the wife has decided that since she's back in the military that she wants her freedom. Sometimes it happens, but now it's including abandoning her 3 children, and not doing what she's supposed to do to take care of them. This has made it hard on the house here because she's not sending money like she's supposed to in order to support her children. The father, although a good guy for the most part is a bit irresponsible himself, and it has come to the point that I feel he is using my family whether he realizes it or not. This doesn't count the fact that Jennifer is homeschooling his daughter, Joan takes care of his kids when he's not making them nap or while he's on the computer...and does he thank them? Has he offered any compensation for babysitting? No...he could at least make an offer of compensation to Jennifer for teaching his daughter. Instead he complains that she may not be doing it right because his daughter is a special needs girl and has mental problems. The only problem is she's ADHD and she craves attention...
He's been living here since October, and has finally paid a grand total of 200 dollars for rent, and only in the past 2 weeks. 100 bucks per paycheck from his job at Winn Dixie. Supposedly, his wife is to be sending 1000 a month split in 2 checks as she gets paid, which is not enough. But, she must make sure she has enough money to care for herself in buying a new car, a new laptop, a new GPS, various piercings, etc. Because you know, you've gotta have your priorities. She lives on base, so she gets military support. So my questions is, why does she not care for her children?
Also, on this end, my question is, where the hell is there rest of the money going that he should be paying for rent, buying food for his kids, etc...
Joan is very unhappy with the situation as of late because he's piling his stuff up everywhere. She can't get out her front door on to the front porch (which she doesn't use that door a lot, but it's the principle of the matter) because his stuff if piled around the door...the room he sleeps in he's used thumbtacks to put up blankets around the window to make it darker; and this comes after he had her buy new curtains or blinds for the rooms...but now there's holes all in the wall.
On top of that, he's told her the living situation may extended until March. I don't think she can put up with it that much longer, and it is impeding on her plans as well for this year...
Throw this on top of she spent right at a thousand bucks this last month for food alone...and she's the only person in her household. No way she should be eating a grand a month in food...again I ask...where the hell is his money going?
I've tried to talk to him about it, just talk. Not yell or cuss at him or beat the hell out of him, but he avoids me. I don't want to have to resort to the other methods...
Funny how well you get to know "a friend" when they live with you...seems he may not be the friend or responsible father I thought he was.
(Coming soon, a rant on my other brother in law. Even more fun for the mother in law...)
So yeah, trials and tribulations have already begun this year. Now it's time to figure out how to solve it, and get past it. I just hope I can do it peacefully and diplomatically. I hate to lose a friend, but if he can't understand then maybe he's not the friend he should be.
Until next time,
Hammer
Friday, January 1, 2010
Start of a new year, new decade...
Well, here we are. 2010. Day 1. A monumental year, in that it's the start of a new year, a start of a new decade, the start of the second decade of the 2000th year of our Lord...
And I'm starting a blog column.
2009 was horrible. I lost friends, relatives, money, jobs, almost lost my truck, and who knows what else. There were times I thought, "just when you think it can't get any worse..." and it did.
Well, in 2010, I'm going to try to be more optimistic. More positive. I'm doing to do my best to MAKE 2010 a better year. I've already got a good start on it. I'm in a good mood, and I feel pretty good.
Oddly, part of that is from having the Wii Fit, and using it daily. I didn't use it yesterday due to some chaos and lots of stuff to do, but I'm going to try to make time daily for it.
Do what you can to make it a better year for you, and those around you. When you wake up in the mornings, think to yourself, "it's going to be a good day." Try to keep that in your mind as you start your day, and don't let anything block you from it. While driving to work, instead of cussing that moron that cut you off, just let it go. Cussing him doesn't change the fact that he cut you off, or you're now staring at his tail lights and tag. Just keep on going. Blow his mind. Smile and wave at him as you pass him.
It's the little things we do that can make the difference, but it's harder to remember to do the little things.
Anyway, I hope you can take these words and use them to help you. Encouragement. I firmly believe success starts from within, now it's time to try to make it happen.
Until next time,
Hammer
And I'm starting a blog column.
2009 was horrible. I lost friends, relatives, money, jobs, almost lost my truck, and who knows what else. There were times I thought, "just when you think it can't get any worse..." and it did.
Well, in 2010, I'm going to try to be more optimistic. More positive. I'm doing to do my best to MAKE 2010 a better year. I've already got a good start on it. I'm in a good mood, and I feel pretty good.
Oddly, part of that is from having the Wii Fit, and using it daily. I didn't use it yesterday due to some chaos and lots of stuff to do, but I'm going to try to make time daily for it.
Do what you can to make it a better year for you, and those around you. When you wake up in the mornings, think to yourself, "it's going to be a good day." Try to keep that in your mind as you start your day, and don't let anything block you from it. While driving to work, instead of cussing that moron that cut you off, just let it go. Cussing him doesn't change the fact that he cut you off, or you're now staring at his tail lights and tag. Just keep on going. Blow his mind. Smile and wave at him as you pass him.
It's the little things we do that can make the difference, but it's harder to remember to do the little things.
Anyway, I hope you can take these words and use them to help you. Encouragement. I firmly believe success starts from within, now it's time to try to make it happen.
Until next time,
Hammer
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