Rediscovered

Time flies! Life gets busy and the next thing you know it is 5 months later! It is the 4th of July and I have a little free-time so I started cleaning/organizing the computer when I rediscovered this blog I started. I read through my previous blogs and enjoyed reminding myself of what I was thinking. So I am going to make an effort to keep writing.

I am now 39 and life is great. I get scared when life is "too good to be true" because I am usually right. I am in the fortunate position of being healthy, happily married, happily employed, and we have sufficient money for our needs. So I am preparing myself for the next challenge that will make life more stressful. I wonder what it will be?

What is next? I have recently settled for somewhat of what I view as a setback in my career. There is less stress and the money is sill the same, but I am actually much happier. The position I left was surrounded by unsuccessful people that had power, a bad combination. Right now I feel I am in a holding pattern waiting for the right opportunity. My gut feeling is that something fairly big is going to happen to me career-wise within the next year.

Another thing that has been on my mind a lot lately is how to handle pan handlers/beggars. My wife and I decided to go to two public places this week and in both instances we were cornered and approached by desperate acting men who asked us for money. I say acting because it appears to me that they are putting on an act. I really don't carry cash, so I let each of them know and moved on uncomfortably. Ironically they were both disgusted at us like we were being cheap by turning them down. After the first incident we came back out to the parking lot where we had parked and been approached and found our car violently keyed. It makes me curious. Is there something about us that looks rich and/or sympathetic? Is it because I am in a wheelchair? If anything I feel the opposite. It angers me that someone with complete capability wastes their time begging. I don't say no because I won't part with the money, I say no because I don't feel like I am helping them by giving them money. In fact, I feel I am enabling them to not take action in their lives. If begging doesn't work then they will have to resort to something else, hopefully something more productive rather than crime.

I value how my mother made me accountable for my actions. There was no "I'll save you when you make bad decisions". It was more like, "Oh no Rick, the mess you made is going to be hard and painful to clean up".