Skip to main content

Because You Can Never Hear Someone Complain Too Much About the Government

As I sat at my computer working on a writing project and waiting for the goose to finish his bath, I heard a bump outside. I don’t startle easily, but my dogs do, and they proceeded to go berserk, running from window to window letting me know that SOMETHING is outside. Something that could be dangerous or at least fun to sniff.

There was, in fact, a couple outside. My dogs and I watched them pull out a piece of aluminum and then stomp on it until it was flattened. They folded it over. As I’m writing this, they’re trying to figure out how it will fit in their van. I gotta tell ya, that kind of ingenuity simply amazes me, and it’s one of the reasons I get so angry when someone tries to tell me the government is the only salvation for people.

I come from the school of thought that if you want something, you go for it. Period. There’s always a way out there. Health insurance? My slightly overweight husband with a history of back and ear surgeries qualified for health, dental, vision, and life insurance for a price that’s 1/5 of my monthly gas bill. It’s better coverage than what I get through work.

Looking for an education? I worked at a college making just enough money to pay my monthly $250 rent payment with a little left over for utilities and food. I walked to work each day and sometimes worked a part time job at a sandwich shop to save up money for a $600 car. No, I won’t say it was easy, especially when I was walking home at 10:00 at night to eat my dinner of ramen noodles with soy sauce, but I’m glad I did it.

I could go on with example after example from my own life and those around me. I know single mothers who manage to take care of their kids and save money. I’ve cleaned out my own kitchen cupboards to help feed a family. It may take some extra effort. It may require more energy or time. But there’s not a single person out there who is not capable of taking charge of their own life and DOING SOMETHING WITH IT.

Government is not the answer to our problems. The real answer lies within us and our ability to accept responsibility and live responsibly. If that means digging around in the woods for abandoned scrap metal to pay for dinner, so be it. God bless America!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Busy Days Ahead

It's been a busy week for me. I left my house at 4:30 Monday morning for my drive down south and pulled back in my driveway at 1:20 this morning. The days have been long, too, between working at the new school from 7:30 until 3:00 or 4:00 and then working at the new place until 9:00 or 10:00 each night. I now have callouses on my fingers and not one intact finger nail. I think I've also developed a new twitch somewhere on my face. One afternoon this week, I stood in the middle of our new living room and took in the sight of missing drywall, a growing hole in the floor and soaked up my husband's predictions that we still won't be ready to paint by the weekend. All I wanted to do was cry. All I felt was nothingness. Numbness. Anyone who has ever reached the point of numbness knows that it's scarier than feeling like you're falling apart. It's one step beyond feeling like you're falling apart. I couldn't help but wonder just what we had gotten ourselves
5 comments
Read more

The Carnival

It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon here in southwest Florida, although still a bit too warm for my November tastes. I'm learning to enjoy my weekends with as much unstructured and unscheduled time as possible. Last Saturday was a delightful unstructured day. A new friend of mine (the one from the Everglades excursion) and I went to a local carnival. Now, here's the thing...I LOVE carnivals. The food. The people. The rides. The lights. I can easily spend an entire day wandering through the crowds. He's no carnival slouch. The first thing we did was walk through the entire place, scoping out the rides. Then the fun began. We rode almost every ride there (except for the kiddie attractions and the broken Tornado). The Wild Claw. The Scrambler. The Orbiter. The Space Oddysey. The Swings. The Pharaoh's Fury. The Ferris Wheel. The Giant Slide. The Haunted House. The Avalanche. It was all good. How can you top a ride that uses centrifugal force to plaster your body against
2 comments
Read more

Stranger Obligations

I had to make a few difficult decisions this week. At least, they were difficult for me. I wish I could be the kind of person who completely makes decisions based on his/her own needs and wants and boldly moves through life with unabashed freedom from how our choices affect others. But I'm not built like that. I had placed an ad for my former stray. I felt like it was time to find her a more permanent home because so much in my life right now is uncertain. One person answered the ad, but she did not seem like a good fit, and I gave up further thought. This week I received another response. As long as this person is telling the truth, it's an ideal situation for the dog. Yet, I had a strange feeling and could not sort out whether or not it was my intuition kicking in or that fact that I actually like the dog and don't want to see her go. In the end, I decided that it was in my own (and my Winnipeg's) best interest for her to stay with us through the summer. (I seri
5 comments
Read more