Well written and if your spouse dies, you’ll soon find out that after 3 weeks all of your so called friends are gone. My husband taught real estate licensing for Weichert School of Real Estate for 35 years and he had the highest pass ratio in the state year in year out. He literally had a file cabinet of praises and kudos from his students. When he died I never even had a email from anyone in management at Weichert Realtors offering a condolence (I was a sales broker with Weichert for 30 years, 54 total years as a real estate broker but only 30 with Weichert) There are very few decent people in my life. I always say “just because I’m cynical doesn’t mean I’m wrong” A friend calls me “Scully” as from the X Files because I’m always quoting from it “Trust no one Mulder” Only the Lord Jesus Christ is trustworthy.
I'm sorry to hear that, Nancy, but I can relate. When I was a very young Realtor in the late 1980s, no one from my brokerage sent any flowers or condolences when my mother died. Neither did anyone at my part-time blue collar job. My wife's employer sent a nice floral arrangement. "It's a cold, cold world," as my mother used to say. Thanks!
I gave a friend an old car I wasn’t using. I estimated its value at $500. She had it two weeks got hit in an intersection—totaled. Insurance paid her $1700. Then she got a job and used the $1700.00 to buy a brand new car. Crazy.
When I was studying electronics at DeVry University in one of my many lives, I lent a guy I barely knew $100 dollars because he was in a real jam with his family. Believe it or not, a month later I got all the money back plus a free meal. He was really grateful.
On the other hand, I lent my brother $500 so he could by a junky car- you had to double clutch to shift gears and it had a hole in the floor so big you could watch the road pass by. About a year later he had not repaid one cent. I was a little short of cash and we were at the ATM and I asked if I could have $50 dollars of what he owed me and his retort was "What? You want it NOW?"
An employee that was kicked out of his apartment needed a place to stay and I said he could move into a bedroom in my parent's suburban house, which I was watching for a year while they were out of the country. I went on a retreat and came home to find he had bailed- and left the dishes in a full sink where they had been for days.
One never knows how one is going to be repaid for an act of charity.
My cousin was being evicted 19 years ago. She was desperate and I offered to lend her $1000. to stay in her home. I never started asking for the money until three years later. I was so broke I didn't even have money for food, and she knew this. She kept telling me she was broke too, meanwhile buying furniture and getting tattoos. When she cut off all contact with me, I filed in small claims court. She alienated the judge right off the bat by getting caught in a lie. She wanted to get by with paying me $20. per month payments, but the judge ordered $40. It took along time to pay back at that rate, and we once more had to have the court intervene when the payment method was not as ordered. She once sold an ATV she was still making payments on, and then stopped making the payments. Instead of taking her to small claims, the buyer had an attorney write a useless letter, demanding payment. I have not seen her since.
By the way, after I filed, the Judge Joe Brown show called and asked me if I was interested in being on the show. I was clueless, not having a tv, I had never heard of the show. I said I don't watch tv, and I certainly don't want to be on it.
I think most people are incapable of genuine friendship. Most folks are automatons, sleepwalking through life...reacting only to outside stimulus, before quickly forgetting and moving on to the next stimuli. I would venture that only a tiny percentage of people have an actual life of the mind. The trick is to avoid these folks, and if they somehow weasel their way into your life, purge them before they do real damage. The older one gets, the better they become (hopefully) at sussing out bad apples.
What an interesting life. At any rate, fortunately, and it has to be Our lady, but I have been spared many, many sorrows of that sort. Most of the people I have known are actually fairly decent. Even now, I am fortunate to know some decent people. They are not saints, but they won't take advantage of you.
Me, I never asked for much. Just an honest day's pay for an an honest day's work. And even now, I don't even ask for that. Heck, I'll mow a lawn for $10. Just my cabin, my dog, and my fire. All else is going to be dust and ashes beneath our feet come judgment day.
Looking forward to that. I'll finally know who shot the Magic Bullet.
I too, have been blessed with a handful of genuine friends...and I truly believe if it wasn't for Our Lady, I would have been dead years ago. I have looked death in the face so many times, it defies all odds that I should still be breathing.But that doesn't mean one should stop being careful.
Our Lord returns soon. First the thousand years of peace on earth when Christ reigns as King with the saints, some who even manage to "endure to the end". Then the Judgement. Even so, come Lord Jesus.
Yes I think our hearts are very close in agreement. Yes the Immaculate Heart will Triumph and we are in the birth pangs, as it were, of the Great Age about to begin. All history mirrors the 6 days of creation, and the 1000 years at the end will be much like the 1000 years before the Flood, when men will live to long ages and no nations will exist, only a world full of villages all united under God.
Well written and if your spouse dies, you’ll soon find out that after 3 weeks all of your so called friends are gone. My husband taught real estate licensing for Weichert School of Real Estate for 35 years and he had the highest pass ratio in the state year in year out. He literally had a file cabinet of praises and kudos from his students. When he died I never even had a email from anyone in management at Weichert Realtors offering a condolence (I was a sales broker with Weichert for 30 years, 54 total years as a real estate broker but only 30 with Weichert) There are very few decent people in my life. I always say “just because I’m cynical doesn’t mean I’m wrong” A friend calls me “Scully” as from the X Files because I’m always quoting from it “Trust no one Mulder” Only the Lord Jesus Christ is trustworthy.
I'm sorry to hear that, Nancy, but I can relate. When I was a very young Realtor in the late 1980s, no one from my brokerage sent any flowers or condolences when my mother died. Neither did anyone at my part-time blue collar job. My wife's employer sent a nice floral arrangement. "It's a cold, cold world," as my mother used to say. Thanks!
I gave a friend an old car I wasn’t using. I estimated its value at $500. She had it two weeks got hit in an intersection—totaled. Insurance paid her $1700. Then she got a job and used the $1700.00 to buy a brand new car. Crazy.
The End
No good deed goes unpunished, Mike. Thanks!
When I was studying electronics at DeVry University in one of my many lives, I lent a guy I barely knew $100 dollars because he was in a real jam with his family. Believe it or not, a month later I got all the money back plus a free meal. He was really grateful.
On the other hand, I lent my brother $500 so he could by a junky car- you had to double clutch to shift gears and it had a hole in the floor so big you could watch the road pass by. About a year later he had not repaid one cent. I was a little short of cash and we were at the ATM and I asked if I could have $50 dollars of what he owed me and his retort was "What? You want it NOW?"
An employee that was kicked out of his apartment needed a place to stay and I said he could move into a bedroom in my parent's suburban house, which I was watching for a year while they were out of the country. I went on a retreat and came home to find he had bailed- and left the dishes in a full sink where they had been for days.
One never knows how one is going to be repaid for an act of charity.
My cousin was being evicted 19 years ago. She was desperate and I offered to lend her $1000. to stay in her home. I never started asking for the money until three years later. I was so broke I didn't even have money for food, and she knew this. She kept telling me she was broke too, meanwhile buying furniture and getting tattoos. When she cut off all contact with me, I filed in small claims court. She alienated the judge right off the bat by getting caught in a lie. She wanted to get by with paying me $20. per month payments, but the judge ordered $40. It took along time to pay back at that rate, and we once more had to have the court intervene when the payment method was not as ordered. She once sold an ATV she was still making payments on, and then stopped making the payments. Instead of taking her to small claims, the buyer had an attorney write a useless letter, demanding payment. I have not seen her since.
By the way, after I filed, the Judge Joe Brown show called and asked me if I was interested in being on the show. I was clueless, not having a tv, I had never heard of the show. I said I don't watch tv, and I certainly don't want to be on it.
I think most people are incapable of genuine friendship. Most folks are automatons, sleepwalking through life...reacting only to outside stimulus, before quickly forgetting and moving on to the next stimuli. I would venture that only a tiny percentage of people have an actual life of the mind. The trick is to avoid these folks, and if they somehow weasel their way into your life, purge them before they do real damage. The older one gets, the better they become (hopefully) at sussing out bad apples.
You do have some stories, Kris- thanks!
I lived a very full life for a highschool drop-out..
. PhD from the school of hard knocks.
What an interesting life. At any rate, fortunately, and it has to be Our lady, but I have been spared many, many sorrows of that sort. Most of the people I have known are actually fairly decent. Even now, I am fortunate to know some decent people. They are not saints, but they won't take advantage of you.
Me, I never asked for much. Just an honest day's pay for an an honest day's work. And even now, I don't even ask for that. Heck, I'll mow a lawn for $10. Just my cabin, my dog, and my fire. All else is going to be dust and ashes beneath our feet come judgment day.
Looking forward to that. I'll finally know who shot the Magic Bullet.
I too, have been blessed with a handful of genuine friends...and I truly believe if it wasn't for Our Lady, I would have been dead years ago. I have looked death in the face so many times, it defies all odds that I should still be breathing.But that doesn't mean one should stop being careful.
Our Lord returns soon. First the thousand years of peace on earth when Christ reigns as King with the saints, some who even manage to "endure to the end". Then the Judgement. Even so, come Lord Jesus.
Yes I think our hearts are very close in agreement. Yes the Immaculate Heart will Triumph and we are in the birth pangs, as it were, of the Great Age about to begin. All history mirrors the 6 days of creation, and the 1000 years at the end will be much like the 1000 years before the Flood, when men will live to long ages and no nations will exist, only a world full of villages all united under God.
Have a happy Feast of the Holy Rosary.
Great article. On the Trans front US has between 0.5 - 1.6% declared - a few million.
Thanks, Paul!