As Dumbya pushes through his Economic Stimulus That Will Only Really Stimulate If You Pull Down Six Figures, here's a story to chew upon that shows the true character of the affluent. Those of you familiar with my escapades in Western MA should know the victim in question...
This is the tale of a former New York Times sports editor currently limited to picking up occasional freelance work in Berkshire County. I'll try to set the background for you...
The writer in question is not in the best of health -- he suffered a heart attack nearly a year ago -- and he has been experiencing family difficulties as well. Earlier this past fall, his wife decided to move out and take the kids with her. They have an apartment a short distance from the family's permanent home, where our victim resided alone for much of the holiday season.
Around Christmas, cooler heads prevailed briefly, and the family was reunited for the last week or so of December. Then, around 2 am New Year's morning, their house burns down.
The writer has no surviving family, but his in-laws (who are VERY well off, by the way) live two towns over. Upon arriving at the blaze, the first words our friend hears from his brother-in-law are...
"Did you start this?"
The house is broken up into a couple of separate apartments, one of which is occupied by an elderly woman. With the weather below freezing, she's running around in a wet nightgown. Meanwhile, the father-in-law, who is wearing three layers of fleece and ski jackets, is too busy blaming the fire on his son-in-law to offer the freezing woman a coat.
Anyway, the Red Cross steps in and offers assistance, and while the family is separated (the wife has also opted to blame our beleaguered writer friend), the Red Cross is forced to treat the case as a single family because the married couple is not legally separated or divorced.
To make a long story short, the wife and kids are staying in an apartment that is already paid up, and any assistance they might need would be covered by her wealthy (3 lawyers) family. Just for fun, however, SHE is holding on to the food, clothing and lodging vouchers that were earmarked for the entire family, leaving our essentially unemployed protagonist with nothing.
Each of the in-laws owns a minimum of three homes, and yet our friend has to bargain with the Red Cross every day just to keep a room at the Travelodge. He has no money, his family has deserted him and his wife has no use for the vouchers she's holding (otherwise, they wouldn't be unused, right?)
Apparently, the main point of contention in the family has been money (read: he's not making any), and it seems as if the wife is using the situation to leverage a separation or divorce -- or maybe just to teach her husband a lesson.
What's my point here? I'm not sure -- but my feeling is that if you are in a position to help a suffering person and you look the other way, it shows what kind of person you really are. To ignore the same situation when your HUSBAND is involved...well, that's just inhuman. (No, not inhumane, although it is that too...I meant inhuman).
For now, our friend is doing the best he can, and he does have some moral (and legal) support from his friends in NYC and elsewhere. I'm sure that his wife has covered her bases legally -- after all, she's related to 3 attorneys -- but she's falling far short morally.
Income has been a concern, but if you know that going in, why do you marry a sportswriter -- especially one a couple of years removed from his last full-time job? And why do you take a vow of "good times and bad" if you're going to leave your husband homeless just to teach him a lesson or to get out of the marriage?
Money changes people, and it often serves as a moral anesthetic. Those who have never suffered in their lives can't relate to the pain of others. They'd lose their minds if it ever happens to them, but they'll turn a deaf ear to the pleas of those dealing with it every day.
It would be redundant of me to relate this tale to our current GOP regime -- that correlation is a given. What I do know is that my friend is in trouble, and I'm worried that the stress of an event like this might lead to a second heart attack -- or worse.
It's bad enough that the government wraps people in red tape rather than help them. That's expected. But when your own family -- till death do us part and all that -- leaves you blowing in the wind, it makes you wonder about how classless some people have become.
Funny -- the people in this country who have received nothing but compassion their whole lives are the last ones to show it to those in need.
Check yourselves.
-- O
12:05:20 AM 
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