People and priorities

[Jim Manz]

I just gotta vent a little. I was out by the neighborhood swimming pool and was talking with a new neighbor. He, his wife, and three small children rented a house across from me about a month or two back. He and his wife are both in the construction trade and moved down here from Virginia to find work. He started telling me how hard it was because construction is so slow right now. They are already past due on their rent and cannot make this months payment. Then he said they didn't even have enough money to buy a pack of chicken. What really got me is this. The entire time he is crying poor mouth his wife is puffing away on cigarettes. Well, if she would stop buying cigarettes at a cost of over $3 per pack they just might be able to buy some chicken to eat.

[score300]

I think we probably all know someone like that. I have a longtime friend that's always talking about how broke they are. His wife is due in October with thier second child and they are having a hard time making thier house payment. She just got layed off and he's trying to support a family on $15.00 an hour with a house payment and 2 car payments. Would you believe that between the 2 of them they go through 3 packs of cigarettes a day and at least 1-12 pack of beer sometimes 2 a week. It just kills me. When he used to live with me there were times he would be just a little short on rent so he would go out and get drunk or buy beer or something stupid. His excuse was if your short the money then your short. It doesn't matter how much. What kind of thinking is that?