People will never fail to amaze me. I say that with a negative conotation, but it’s simply because I just expect good behavior from people. When they don’t act good, then I get shocked. Okay, not shocked. Stumped? Yeah, maybe that’s it. People you know, or think you do, people you talk to every day, or write to everyday in this case, simply reaffirm my belief that this world is going to hell in a handbasket.

It’s all around us, this bad behavior. Feeling sorry for oneself, blaming the system for every ailment even those self imposed. Pointing fingers rather than looking in the mirror. Criticizing others. The list goes on. It makes me sick the lack of self-discipline, motivation, drive and ambition some people have. And then again, others who live as if that’s all there is….greed.

There is a common ground. Those of us that work, pay our dues, are self reliant yet give freely to others without thought or malice. We live simply in this neck of the woods. We neither have too much or too little. Most of our possessions are meager, old and some are even worn out. We would like to have more, have had more, but we took it all for granted. We have been stripped of our former wealth and the carelessness of our ways. We lived beyond our means, aquired more than we needed, took those blessings for granted, and never once appreciated the luxury of having too much. Then…we got laid off from our well-paying jobs and started our own business.

I can’t say we’re poor. God has blessed us with only just enough. Not once in the last 4 to 5 years have our every need not been met. The operative word being…need. Oh, of course there are a lot of wants that we don’t get, can no longer afford, but we’ve stayed full of food, the air conditioning still runs, and so far…we can afford gas to get where we need to go.