A couple we know

SolitaryRoad.com

Website owner:  James Miller

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Info ] [ Mail ]

A couple we know

If one has traveled much in third world countries or has looked at YouTube videos of life in third world countries one probably realizes that the vast majority of mankind lives on a near subsistence level in a very small house with an interior that looks quite rough to us, and with none of our modern conveniences, on perhaps $1.00 - $2.00 a day. Their house may be one they built themselves, perhaps of bamboo or mud brick. They may have some chickens and pigs and a dog. They likely spend long hard days out in a field raising some crop like rice or corn. Their life is one of hard work and frugality, working hard to just have enough to eat. They don’t have any mortgage payments. Their main concern is just getting enough to eat. They have had none of the advantages that Americans have had. Many may have never had the opportunity to go to school and are unable to read or write. Yet, if you look at the faces of these people, you see them talking and smiling and with as little as they have, they seem happy. In fact, I suspect that the average person living on $1.00 - $2.00 a day in the third world is as happy as the average American, perhaps happier. Some may mess up their lives through drinking, taking drugs or just bad living as many Americans do, but the more prudent ones who live right are mostly happy, as is the case with Americans.

Having said the above I want to talk about a couple we know. The couple is in their late 70's. The husband spent most of his life career as a newspaper reporter. He traveled with presidents, hobnobbed with the rich and powerful. The wife was a school teacher and, for over forty years, was a member of our homeowner’s association. For a number of years she was also one of my wife’s clients (my wife is a hairstylist). I am told their house was extremely cluttered, just filled with presents the husband had received from people he knew. He liked to play the guitar and he had many guitars. There were also many pictures of them with the rich and powerful, with people like Elizabeth Taylor and her husband. I don’t know what the husband’s political leanings were but my wife learned that the wife loved Barack Obama and hated conservatives. They used to go up to Kennebunkport, Maine for vacation every year, renting some favorite place there. And when they went they would invite their children and grandchildren also, treating them (they had three or four children). This was happening every year and they were often taking two vacations a year, also going down to Williamsburg, Virginia and also inviting their children and grandchildren when they went there. I assumed they were wealthy, from this kind of behavior. Well, a year or two ago, the husband was forced to retire. After retiring he became very depressed and just stayed in bed all day. He just wouldn’t get out of bed. They took him to doctors and the doctors couldn’t help him. The next thing we heard was that their house that they had lived in for over forty years was mortgaged to the hilt, that they had no equity in it, and they were now unable to make the mortgage payments. In fact, they didn’t even have enough money to fix it up so they could put it on the housing market. So what did they do? They just left it, took most of the contents, and left the house to the bank. They have left the area and we are no longer in contact with them.

Now what do you think of this? Here is a couple who have gotten to the point of retirement and apparently have nothing. They have apparently not saved a penny. They just blew everything they had. Not only that, they borrowed to the hilt on their house to do it! These are two college educated people. I assume the husband must have been quite an intelligent person, judging from the job he had. These people have had all the advantages that America offers, education, employment opportunities, etc., and they finish their life this way. The husband ends up so depressed he won’t get out of bed. That is America! Live life to the hilt! Don’t worry about tomorrow! I wonder how many Americans go through their life this way. Don’t save a penny. End up pennyless. They have their social security check. If that isn’t enough to live on, they can go on welfare and let the government take care of them. I am sure that those poor people in the third world end their life much more gracefully than this. They only make a dollar or two a day and I’ll bet that by the time they get to retirement age they have saved something. This couple had all kinds of western cultural advantages, made hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of their life, and never saved a penny. Do you suppose that hardship, difficulty, and hard work, may create character, prudence and wisdom? And too much luxury and ease creates foolishness? Here in America even our people who are living on government welfare are living in ease and luxury, living like kings, compared with the people in the third world. Does something seem wrong here? This is where our modern welfare mentality has brought us. At the same time, our country is trillions in debt; we have gone from being the world’s largest creditor nation to the world’s largest debtor nation; under the name of “quantitative easement” we have simply printed trillions of unbacked dollars to stimulate our sick, sluggish economy; jobs are fleeing overseas at a high rate due to high taxes and too much regulation; programs like social security and medicare are financial disasters that are certain to end badly; we follow financial policies that cannot possibly be sustained; we live in a financial house of cards that is almost certain to come crashing down sooner or later; the moral foundations of our country are all hollowed out; the country is a disaster waiting to happen. And what lies behind it? The masses want more and more government, more and more entitlement programs and welfare programs, and they vote for those highly dishonest liberal politicians who promise it. Politicians motivated only by self-interest and desire for power, not the interest of the country. Lying, unscrupulous politicians and soft, greedy, ignorant, gullible, easily manipulated, foolish masses who hate the rich and would like to fleece them. That is what underlies it. The poorer masses view the Republican party as the party of the rich and so they vote Democratic. The Democratic party is their party. It is the party that gives them all kinds of welfare programs, entitlement programs, all kinds of “goodies”. Goodies is what they want. They want a life of ease. They don’t want to struggle and work. This party will come to an end sooner or later. When it does it won’t be a pretty sight. There will be an economic collapse of gigantic proportions and with it, social chaos. People will be hungry. Out of that economic and social chaos will probably come some kind of socialist/ communist state. It will be a very bad end for America, all because of high dishonesty, greed, and foolishness; because of financial irresponsibility, a wrong mentality, an entitlement mentality. Life can be brutal. America will learn that.

America has abandoned God. It can’t expect any help from Him. America is out on its own now. No help from above.

Jan 2017