Just a thought

So here I am, sitting in my Suburban with two boys in the back playing on a Nintendo DS. I am posting a thread on a so called golf forum from a portable phone. I recently read an article about the possibility of a holographic tv being produced in my lifetime.

In 1929 the US and most of the world was in the midst of a depression. One where people ate beans and liver and cabbage because that is all they could afford. They lived in little 4 room houses of maybe 800 sq ft. And there was probably 6 to 8 people living in that house. A car was a luxury, people barely had one. Radio was new. Kids helped work and toys were sticks and rocks.

So are we that bad off?

Do I feel the need to locate the nearest soup kitchen? No not yet.

This leather chair I am sitting in is too comfy for me to worry about a soup line. And that HD TV staring at me with the Wii connected to it just looks inviting. Too bad I have to go pick up the dos from the vet after they have had baths, I might have just played a little virtual golf. I may do that afterward on my laptop. The online golf game was just updated and sounds like a good time wasted right now.

And the boys? Well they are now outside riding their bikes. Each one has his own you know. Two of them will have soccer practice tonight so we might have to get some fast food for dinner. Or I could nuke some mac and cheese for them.

Man the house feels a little warm. Might have to turn the ac down some. Come to think of it I have some time I could try and move the desktop computer into the living room and connect it to the tv. It is just sitting in the office not being used since my wife and I each have a laptop.

I just got my vacation approved for December. Bandon here I come. Flying to OR to play golf at one of the best courses in the states for 3 days. I'm meeting up with 7 other guys to do the same. Golf food and drinks. Hanging out and talking about stupid stuff. Good times. 

As I type this I am trying made a farce of life but the problem is this is all true. This is my life. A far cry from life 80 years ago. Could I lose my job? I guess it's possible, anything is possible. But looking at what I have and where we have come I don't think I am as bad off as I might have thought I was.

and that's how it all started....

Right on brotha!  (said one of the 7 others  )


We don't have a high cost of living in the U.S., we simply have the cost of living high.  I know I'm fortunate and am thankful for it.  Even if I'm back down to chasing one skirt Jules 

let me speak for the other end of the spectrum.
1 year ago last week i was in a very similar position to you spanky. my family wanted for nothing. if anyone did want anything we immediately went out and bought it and never gave it a second thought.
i had thousands of dollars in the bank. a job that paid in excess of 75k a year. a harley that i spared no expense on, life couldn't have been better. my wife had lost her job but it didn't matter. her income was the icing on the cake.
you have no idea how close to having nothing you are. 
yes there have been circumstances that have conspired to put me where i am today. but yet this is where i am. i have used up my unemployment, which if push comes to shove i collected illegally to begin with. at that, when you made 1500 a week 350.00 a week doesn't go far. my wife and i have no health insurance. the kids get medicaid.
 i have sold everything that isn't nailed down and had any value. my kids are on the welfare lunch program. i have applied for food stamps and emergency assistance. i have also applied for ssi it takes 5 to 6 months to get an approval.
 i just had my 4th surgery and am going to physical therapy yet again. there is a possibility i will need another surgery in 6 weeks if the therapy doesn't work. at this point i am unemployable. it hardly matters because there are no jobs here anyhow. our local paper that serves a community of around 750k people had 6 help wanted adds today. if there is a job, the competition is fierce with unemployment running rampant.
that's how bad things can get in the span of a year. 

Glad things are going great for you and others on this board. I'm thankful for my and my family's current financial situation as well, and it's nice to be able to reflect on how great things are for oneself. However, there were 730,000 lost jobs so far in 2008, and remember that not every GolfHo was lucky enough to avoid being part of that statistic. By all accounts, the worst has yet to come. Remember that when the stock market crashed in 1929, spurring the Great Depression, it wouldn't be for another 3-4 years until the country felt the effects of the 25% unemployment rate. Pray to the god of your choice that we don't sink into another global depression, but don't for a second think it's unfathomable that none of use will be eating beans out of a can 4 years from now. I think things are THAT uncertain right now.

I was typing my last post as you were yours. I had you in my thoughts the entire time. As I said I am not lost on that fact. It was in my mind the whole time I was posting the original post. That was why I was trying for satire but couldn't.

My problem is I want to help people all the time. I wish I could help you. That is the kind of person I am. Ask Darla, she hates that about me and yet loves it at the same time. While your situation is a little different it still reflects just the same. I am not lost on the fact that one wrong second, one poor choice of judgment by me or someone else and I could be right there next to you.

I can't feel your pain or understand what it is to lose everything. To say I do would be insulting to you because it is not true. But I do respect your opinions and thoughts. While you may have lost physical abilities, your mind was not injured. I can not speak for anyone other then myself but I do listen to what you say. I have learned from you.

I don't know if this will mean anything to you but I do hope things get better for you and your family. I did not mean for this to be insulting or hurtful.

Agreed.

I know you well enough, I read it as you intended.


birdymaker, my thoughts and prayers are with you.

So hobbit, tell us all about her.
You know I love these stories.
Come on don't be shy.