12/31/2009

I promised someone I would write a blog on the last day of the year and I have about an hour, so here I go.

I must say, I won't miss 2009. It's been a pretty strange year. We've been lucky. We're at an age where the economic crisis didn't affect us as much as many of our neighbors. We went through our rough times when we were in our 20's and 30's so I guess we all have to go through some rough patches to learn how to deal with adversity. No one told us life wasn't fair, we all just assumed it was, and when bad things happened we blamed whomever was closest at hand...

2009 was a year of doctors, dentists, pharmacies, and therapies of all sorts. I won't miss the ass end of the year, and I look forward to 2010 being better than the last year. But honestly, whatever it brings, it will be my decision how to accept it.

A long time ago I learned that I have choices in my life. In the morning I can wake up and say, "Oh my God, what a crappy day" or I can say, "OK this is the first day of the rest of my life and I'm going to make it a good day". It's my own choice. I know it sounds all phony and fake, but it's really the truth.

The happiest people I know are those that are not millionaires. They're the folks that love life, all of life. They don't wait for good things to happen to them, they go out and make the good things happen. They don't have all the newest and greatest of things and material wealth, they have love and cheer in their lives.

Most of us in this country have more than we need. Some need more to make their lives easier, but if anyone in this country wants to get ahead, there are ways to achieve it. You have to be willing to accept less and do more. It's not hard to understand that, but it is hard to accept it as your lot.

I am in the middle of a "semi-crisis" within my extended family. None of the crisis will affect me in any way at all, but I have been asked to look at some affidavits and records and give a synopsis of the problem as I see it. It's not unusual for me to take on this role as confidant, but this is a bit more than I need to know.

I bring this up because the reason for the problem that exists with this family member is all about greed, and the need to have more than they were entitled to have.

For some reason, we in this country, (and look in the mirror, because I don't know many American citizens that don't fit this description) seem to think if we want something, we should have it. Some of us realize we can't have everything right away, but by damn, if we want it we'll get it. I'm not talking about some gazillion dollar doo-dad, I'm talking about something that may be a bit of a stretch for us in this paycheck, but we'll figure out a way to get whatever it is at our earliest opportunity.

The extended family member wanted it all, and now. They did something that was not legal to embezzle millions (think ENRON) and they got caught, not as quick as they should have, but finally were caught. Now, it's "hang your head down and beg for mercy time"...I don't think so...it's not going to happen. It's big time jail time and rightly so. They had the same choices that you and I had and chose to take from someone else, so they could buy the cars, houses, businesses, more houses, more cars, go on extended trips and say it was all because of a large inheritance...yeah..right...

They will pay dearly for the fun in the sun they once had, but will never have again. I hope they liked all the great road trips they took in the hotsy-totsy cars they had, it will be a cold day in Hell before that happens again. Life will go on for them, but not the life they had, nor the life they could have had if they had made better choices when they woke up that first day they decided to take what wasn't theirs to take.

It's about choices in life, and I think we all need to remember that we are our own destiny and the choices we make today will most definitely affect us tomorrow. Everything we do has some affect on us at some point in our lives. I could say it's Karma, but it's really Physics....If you push one way, something has to fall away from the push some other way. What goes around, comes around...Watch those choices....they could well put you away for many years.......That's the truth...