Livin' It.
Just finished three loads of dishes, last one is runnin' now. Washed a bunch of stuff by hand too, including the parrot perch of course. Our older daughter's boyfriend, he's a good guy. We had him and his little sister, who as luck would have it is around the same age as our younger daughter, we had them both here for the afternoon. My wife made roast beef with mashed potatoes and green beans. She also made a Jello cake for dessert. They were here for dinner last Sunday as well. It's like this, their father was involved in a serious motor vehicle accident about ten days ago, he's still in the hospital.
He works for a gas company, job takes him on the road a lot. He was driving, had another guy riding shotgun in the F-250 company truck. They were in western Pennsylvania when they struck a deer. A deer can cause considerable damage to a motor vehicle, even a three-quarter ton truck loaded with tool boxes and welding equipment. Apparently both the operator and the passenger were ejected from the vehicle. Based on the extent of the injuries reported I'm assuming the truck rolled over. It's obvious, based on occupant ejection, that neither the operator or passenger were wearing seatbelts at time of impact. Both were flown via medivac chopper to an excellent university hospital trauma center in Pittsburgh. It looks like both men will survive. Thank God for that. The driver, father of our older daughter's boyfriend, sustained serious head injuries. His recovery will be lengthy.
Just had to take a break for a minute, downed my second can of Coors. First beers I've had in weeks, who has time for that? Sometimes you have make time. So this whole scenario is hittin' me, hard. When I was a cop we dealt with that kind of thing all the time, seemingly innocuous situations that turn into a nightmare in the blink of an eye. You quickly learn how to turn part of yourself off, to detach yourself and get the job done. Firefighters and paramedics, soldiers and reporters all know how to do this. This is different, we know this guy and he's a real good guy. The kids seem to be okay, well the little girl is doing better now. She's a daddy's girl, it took a few days for her to adjust. The boyfriend, well he's bein' the man now. His dad will be proud of how well he's stood up. He really is a good kid, couldn't ask for more from a young man who's involved with our daughter. This horrible situation, and the way he is handling it just makes me like him more. I always thought no one would be good enough for my baby girl, I really don't feel that way now.
Earlier today, while my wife was cooking and I was helping her out in the kitchen, we heard this public service spot on the radio. It said that black men are twice as likely to have a stroke as white men. I know for a fact, in my heart, that's because African Americans still do not receive the same level of health care as white Americans do. I don't care what anybody says, that's a fact. So I hear this ad on the radio, I start thinking. I'm thinking about the hard working people I know. I'm thankful that we are fortunate enough to have health insurance included with my cop pension because my wife and I both work at jobs "that Americans won't do" for an hourly rate "that Americans won't work for". I'm thinking that we really are the lucky ones.
I'm thinking that guys like the boyfriend's father, guys like the old Nam vet I share rides with to and from work, maybe guys like me. We are the lucky ones. We can look at ourselves in the mirror every morning without turning away, we know what matters. I look at my wife's hands, stained black from the presses she runs at her new job from midnight to eight every morning for seven dollars an hour. When she touches my face with those hands, when she cooks for her family with those hands, nothing but real love comes out of those hands. Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking about how much wider the gap between have and have not has become. You can have the have, my have not is more rewarding than all the have you can imagine. I'm thinking about that time at the rest stop just north of Chicago, this guy comes up to us, his wife and kids standing in the background. He says they have to get to DeMoines and they're busted. My wife gives me a look and I reach in my pocket, I got eighty bucks cash so I split it with him. I ask him if forty bucks will do it, he smiled and shook my hand. Forty bucks was enough to get from Chicago to DeMoines, not no more, the haves decided they didn't have enough. The haves never would have given half of their have to a stranger in a rest stop, that's why we have nots are luckier then them. We have nots don't sweat it, we know it all comes out in the end.
The have nots will prevail, we will never lay awake at night worrying about our have. We know that the hugs we get are real, we never worry about someone taking what we don't have to start with. We have nots will always give what we don't have to another have not, or even to a have. That's the difference, that's why we win and all the haves lose. Someday the have nots are going to tire of the haves. When that day comes the haves will be forced to fix their own toilets, mow their own yards, do all those jobs that "Americans won't do". Maybe they can fight their own wars too. That will be a hoot.
He works for a gas company, job takes him on the road a lot. He was driving, had another guy riding shotgun in the F-250 company truck. They were in western Pennsylvania when they struck a deer. A deer can cause considerable damage to a motor vehicle, even a three-quarter ton truck loaded with tool boxes and welding equipment. Apparently both the operator and the passenger were ejected from the vehicle. Based on the extent of the injuries reported I'm assuming the truck rolled over. It's obvious, based on occupant ejection, that neither the operator or passenger were wearing seatbelts at time of impact. Both were flown via medivac chopper to an excellent university hospital trauma center in Pittsburgh. It looks like both men will survive. Thank God for that. The driver, father of our older daughter's boyfriend, sustained serious head injuries. His recovery will be lengthy.
Just had to take a break for a minute, downed my second can of Coors. First beers I've had in weeks, who has time for that? Sometimes you have make time. So this whole scenario is hittin' me, hard. When I was a cop we dealt with that kind of thing all the time, seemingly innocuous situations that turn into a nightmare in the blink of an eye. You quickly learn how to turn part of yourself off, to detach yourself and get the job done. Firefighters and paramedics, soldiers and reporters all know how to do this. This is different, we know this guy and he's a real good guy. The kids seem to be okay, well the little girl is doing better now. She's a daddy's girl, it took a few days for her to adjust. The boyfriend, well he's bein' the man now. His dad will be proud of how well he's stood up. He really is a good kid, couldn't ask for more from a young man who's involved with our daughter. This horrible situation, and the way he is handling it just makes me like him more. I always thought no one would be good enough for my baby girl, I really don't feel that way now.
Earlier today, while my wife was cooking and I was helping her out in the kitchen, we heard this public service spot on the radio. It said that black men are twice as likely to have a stroke as white men. I know for a fact, in my heart, that's because African Americans still do not receive the same level of health care as white Americans do. I don't care what anybody says, that's a fact. So I hear this ad on the radio, I start thinking. I'm thinking about the hard working people I know. I'm thankful that we are fortunate enough to have health insurance included with my cop pension because my wife and I both work at jobs "that Americans won't do" for an hourly rate "that Americans won't work for". I'm thinking that we really are the lucky ones.
I'm thinking that guys like the boyfriend's father, guys like the old Nam vet I share rides with to and from work, maybe guys like me. We are the lucky ones. We can look at ourselves in the mirror every morning without turning away, we know what matters. I look at my wife's hands, stained black from the presses she runs at her new job from midnight to eight every morning for seven dollars an hour. When she touches my face with those hands, when she cooks for her family with those hands, nothing but real love comes out of those hands. Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking about how much wider the gap between have and have not has become. You can have the have, my have not is more rewarding than all the have you can imagine. I'm thinking about that time at the rest stop just north of Chicago, this guy comes up to us, his wife and kids standing in the background. He says they have to get to DeMoines and they're busted. My wife gives me a look and I reach in my pocket, I got eighty bucks cash so I split it with him. I ask him if forty bucks will do it, he smiled and shook my hand. Forty bucks was enough to get from Chicago to DeMoines, not no more, the haves decided they didn't have enough. The haves never would have given half of their have to a stranger in a rest stop, that's why we have nots are luckier then them. We have nots don't sweat it, we know it all comes out in the end.
The have nots will prevail, we will never lay awake at night worrying about our have. We know that the hugs we get are real, we never worry about someone taking what we don't have to start with. We have nots will always give what we don't have to another have not, or even to a have. That's the difference, that's why we win and all the haves lose. Someday the have nots are going to tire of the haves. When that day comes the haves will be forced to fix their own toilets, mow their own yards, do all those jobs that "Americans won't do". Maybe they can fight their own wars too. That will be a hoot.
posted by Squarehead at 12:22 AM
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