Don't Take This Personally, But ...

or

Life is Sometimes Not a Bed of Roses

My check is late. Phooey. As I write this, I have just realized that the money I count on for food and the mortgage and gasoline and even medicine is late this month without warning. We are now told that the money will not come until about the third week of the month.

Around the world, there are billions of persons who struggle every day with personal crises far worse than mine. In the low income rural communities of the U.S. and Canada, a lot of people survive with very little money coming in at any time. A three week delay would be a relief when no money is expected. Ever. "Don't take this personally" seems to be a stock statement for those who believe they are superior.

Sometimes there is a crop failure, or no history of crops to fail. Sometimes an industry has been closed and shipped off to another nation, or to just another state. The spinach industry of Crystal City TX has been shipped off to Arkansas. While this benefitted Arkansas, it has been devastating to Crystal City. "Don't take this personally, but you brought it on yourself!"

Or sometimes it seems the lack of decent treatment is a matter of ethnocentrism, or even racism. These cannot be defended in a democratic society, but we all know they exist. "Don't take this personally, but everyone knows you all are the same."

I was told recently by a United Methodist Bishop that I did not qualify for basic legal rights within the denomination because I am disabled. "Don't take this personally, but a mortal illness is no excuse for weakness."

Donella (my wife of 45 years) and I will need to find a new strategy to deal with this. Fortunately, we have been able to salt away some of the retirement funds that have come. Without this, we would just have to pay the late fees to the mortgage banker and the credit card people. As it is, we will have to severely limit what we do and where we go. We must forego some needed medical treatment and just forget some of our summer travel plans.

My brother and sisters and I had planned to have a family reunion at Lehman Hot Springs, near Ukiah OR, in a couple weeks. The price of gasoline, the need to pay the mortgage and the credit card payments may make that festive time a no-show. It takes money.

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