Parlor Spider...Step In, Little Fly

Insightful thoughts and/or rants from atop the soapbox from one who wishes to share the "right" opinion with everyone.

Friday, December 26, 2008

I'm No George Bailey, But...





"It's A Wonderful Life" was on television again the other night,and I suspect anybody who chose to watch it did so more out of habit than belief. After all, the pluses of 2008 were few and far between...perhaps that's the reason we SHOULD watch it: things were going poorly for George, and the imminent destruction of not only his good name but his physical self cast an eerie similarity (at least to me) to the guy in France who just did himself in after losing a ton of money (just as George did) with the help of the Madoff guy. Apparently, there was no angel named Clarence around to help Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet figure a way out of a billion-dollar loss...sad, really. His unfortunate demise pointed out what many people already knew: this was a tough year, getting tougher all the time.
Any year with not one but TWO Black Fridays (neither of which did much to pull us out of the fiscal doldrums) has issues. Plummeting mortgage rates don't really help if a) banks aren't lending money anyway so they can give executive bonuses with bailout money, and b) everybody is broke as a result of the stock market nosedive, unemployment, or the exorbitant price of a talle latte at Starbucks...that's a different crowd, anyway.
So, I think it's time to express exactly WHY, in spite of everything, it MIGHT just be a wonderful life after all:

1. I'm not looking up at dirt. Seriously, every day is another opportunity to accomplish something, and I look forward to each one with far more enthusiasm than I did when I was much younger. Even finishing my first snow sculpture of the year filled me with enthusiasm, despite knowing that tomorrow's rainy, nasty weather will probably make it unrecognizable.

2. I still have something to eat and a place to stay warm and dry. This is not to be underestimated, particularly when there are many who have neither of these comforts.

3. I actually fixed my snowblower this weekend...just in time. There were those who advocated junking it simply becasue it was 28 years old and balky; my reasoning was that I was at my best at 28, and I should extend the same courtesy to a machine made of metal with no prostate gland to give it trouble. Thus, some TLC, and the mailbox was again cleared for the mail person...and there was no explosion, no fire, and no major leakage. (Now, if only the truck battery hadn't been dead this morning...yet another cdhallenge)

4. The Yankees got every free agent that mattered in the world during the offseason (though David Beckham was unavailable, he was on their short list, I suspect), guaranteeing that they will now be the most hated sports franchise of all time, besting even Notre Dame and the Chicago Bears. Of course, any baseball team that can charge several thousand dollars for a seat can pretty much call the shots, as far as I can tell.

5. I managed to send just about the same number of Christmas cards that we received. There are a few that will have to wait until my sojourn to Miami is complete, but, all in all, a fairly representative job, if I do say so myself. Next year's cards are already purchased...maybe I'll send them out in July this year just for fun.

6. The Green Bay Packers sent me a Christmas Card this year...now, if only they could find one of those Reebok stocking hats from last year that sold out before I could get one for my grandson...simply because Brett wore one, they became the hot item and totally became unavailable. This year's version is rather lame...he'll have to adjust, I suppose.

So, at least for me, the year hasn't been a total debacle: losses? yes, but as you can see, it remains a "pretty good" life.
Thanks, Clarence.

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