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Yesterday morning, he heard that the average unemployed family of four had "earned" between $70-100,000.00 a year since the pandemic had hit without working one hour. Now that the $300.00 per week federal contribution amounting to $15,600.00 per year had ended, he watched the interviews with scores of people complaining they were devastated. People hadn't been paying rent, and now were in panic mode. He thought back to the time in his life when growing up, his father had told him that a man needed to understand he would always have rent/mortgage payments and a car payment. Thinking that was the way it was, he never hesitated to take both on without thought. He joined the military, and became extremely adept at what he did, and got out thinking he was a big frog in a little pond. He worked as hard as he could, and received several advanced certifications in his field, which almost always created problems when he wouldn't compromise his moral integrity. He started his own business, and eventually worked himself into a very select few with his certifications. With 26 employees in shift work 24/7/365, he got tired and sold it. He got into trouble financially after the buyer went into bankruptcy shortly thereafter. After his second divorce, he eventually met his current wife who had certifications of her own in a different field, but the same problems with bosses that began expecting behaviours that were against her principles. After almost losing their auto and rental, they bought a ranch. Right at a time when a bovine stomatitis quarantined their cattle right before winter, and they sold their ranch while they could before they lost it. At that point, they realized the foundation being built on sand instead of bedrock, so they worked their way into being debt free with no payments owed to anyone. They'd made a decision, not a wish. No, it wasn't easy, and took more discipline than either of them had ever dreamed. Wisdom was really hard to find, most had to come from experience. Then again, they figured out if it was easy, everybody would do it. Since very few other than trust fund kids had done it, the school of hard knocks was apparently the only way. They doggedly pursued their goal. They had to reset it occasionally, but eventually got there. It was a decision, not a wish. Now, they live on what was just removed that people are complaining they lost. They're debt free - only power bills, water bills, telephone/internet, and insurances for their three old vehicles and property they own outright. Instead of increasing their income, they'd lowered their overhead. Their son had watched and worked with them the entire way, and learned the ropes. Feeling fortunate, four and a half years ago, in order to fill in some of the gaps and insight to the thought patterns, he started writing them down as a permanent record. He laid out everything for all to hear, and he's really hoping some listened back then and broke the chains of bondage debt brings before this pandemic hit. At least he tried to do something that he wasn't privy to. Back then, there wasn't even an internet, which should've made it easier for those with ears to hear. Time will tell. After his reminiscing, he went out to play checkers with George over a glass of homemade Applejack. Yes, "he" was/is me. God Bless !