It could happen to you .

[blues90]

From what I have read whether it is on blogs or message boards there are people who feel fairly secure , one who have their long term jobs and a good paycheck , their families and friends and then there are the other ones who have had their life torn away either in one swoop of a natural disaster or an out sourced job or factory closing down . Some have had their life slowly wither away through long hours and two or three jobs to keep what little they have and even with their heart and determination their absence allowed their family to fall apart .

What we have seen is hurricanes rip apart Florida years ago with people still without a home . Moore's movie Roger and Me depicting the collapse of an economy which years later in Moore's documentary F-9/11 still shows the same ruins which still continue to this day . We watched as Katrina washed away New Orleans along with hopes and dreams and simple common life and still it stands as just another reminder or yet another city lost that no one seems to care much about . We have watched the trade towers fall to the earth and bought the story , the result of the first stolen election and a lie that allowed many to take pride in the attack of a country of no threat .

We now let this continue after a second robbery of our voice and thousands dead , all our privacy and freedom being taken away and the information highway close to being silenced . Yet I read how some are still proud and hopeful raving what a great country this is .

What will you say when it happens to you ?

[robinlynne]

1. well put. n/t

[napi21]

2. It only matters when it happens to YOU! I've said this so many times

I'm tired typing!

I don't mean to put anyone down, but if your job is OK and you haven't been affected personally, most people just don't recognize there's a problem. I dont think they don't care, they just don't see it!

I've been affected, and I won't ever forget how much damage it did to my life, but those who have been spared can't see a problem.

I think that's why you've seen such a large response to the high gas prices...it affects everyone!

[Swamp Rat]

3. It already did

Do I have to recount the horror and the struggle to survive here in New Orleans? Maybe not...

I'll leave you with a warning:

The rest of America is gonna reap the whirlwind.

You will not like it.

There will be gnashing of teeth and wailing as you watch life, as you know it, end.

"... Creon sneers, mocking Tiresias..."

[butterfly77]

7. and the hits keep coming...

[blues90]

8. I can't imagine how difficult you have it .

I knew a few people in new orleans and they made it out ok but still aren't doing well and I would expect they never will be the same ever again . I also heard the fellow on the Malloy show from humid city .com , he feels they are no longer part of america and I can absolutely see why they feel this way .

I think there are many all over the USA who are waiting for their end to come whether it is a disaster of nature or some sort of bush effect , New orleans was hit by both .

I'm just holding on and now it seems like I'm holding on the nothing because there is nothing to look forward to , there is only what there is to avoid and still maintain sanity . This is no way for anyone to live with nothing but uncertainty or control over anything .

I don't see how we can hold onto hope in the world of politics or the midterm elections , not with all that has gone wrong in that area . How in the hell can you trust that when right now nothing is being done to help those already in a world of hurt . It is as if the thinking is , (oh well lets move on and hope things change in Nov .) What about now , what about these people who have lost all hope and have no resource to deal with the midterms . After all most all of their votes were tossed into the trash well before we got to this ring of hell we are in right now .

Sometimes , as crazy as this may sound ,I can't say which would be worse , living in a state of numbness or feeling the effects of a nuclear blast , it's like people who do cutting so they can feel something / anything again . This is the feeling I get when simply going to some meaningless job and hope this stays a job is all there is for now other than the depression of watching the US I once knew fade away completely . It's not just past gone or the jobs or landscape but the mentality of the Masses that haunt me .

[Swamp Rat]

15. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

Well, I can only cope at this point... and try to enjoy what's left of my life here.

[mdmc]

4. Nader 2008!

Socialize education and health care... End the drug war and the death penalty. Fair trade, not free trade...

My heart goes out to all that are ill or poor.

This is a dark time for America.

[marions ghost]

17. Taking you literally, can we just call for

Naderian principles and not (shudder) Nader himself? :) As right on target as he is at times, Nader is synonymous with a spectacular political defeat for Democrats. Actually IMO in some ways his candidacy may have been a blessing in disguise, as it has exposed the Rethuglican agenda and given Booshco free reign, so that more now see the man (or is it machine) behind the curtain. We also got to see the Supremes throw the election to their favorite. Nader may have inadvertently contributed to the 'reality check' this country sorely needed, but you'd have a hard time convincing people that he was a good thing. His own causes would have gotten a lot further if he hadn't been a spoiler of historic proportions. Banish him to a cave and let him write books.

I don't really want to discuss Nader. He's history. Maybe the best of his ideas can live on in disembodied form. After 6 years, I have a knee-jerk adverse reaction to even reading his name.

[mdmc]

22. sorry regarding the reaction

How about Gore running on ________'s 2000 platform? The DLC thinks that Gore did better with Nader in the race (perhaps as a defense mechanism).

Anyway, peace.

[Sydnie]

5. Kicked and rec'd!

Some just don't see it no matter how personal you make it. Reminds me of the "there was no one left to speak for me" ending to that sad social/politcal statement poem.

Wake up!

John Prine said it best ... years ago:

But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
They're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

9. No, it won't

but I still have one.

I'll just have to get into heaven on my own, I guess!

[butterfly77]

6. Some don't see it because the republicons...

send money and contracts to their districts to maintain their base, and they don't realize it until effects a business they are involved with or their family members can't obtain jobs.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

10. It's happened to me. Twice

Or maybe even three times, if you count what it cost to keep my parents for seven years when both had dementia.

But I still have hope. I see so much that is positive and I see a lot of work to do.

But that's just my personality. I will never give up until I'm dead.

[EFerrari]

11. I've never seen nationalism fix hunger or homelessness or illness. nt

[Warpy]

12. "Oh, shit, not again"

I have started from scratch several times in my life. It would be very hard to do again now that I'm WAY past 50, but I could do it.

Starting over allows you to see just how little you actually need. It can be quite liberating if it's approached with the right attitude.

It's just hard to manage that attitude when you're wiped out because of natural disaster, corporate greed, failing health, or just another person's selfish stupidity.

In any case, I refuse to do things like have yard sales. There are too many people out there who are starting all over right now, and my castoffs are cleaned, repaired and given to charity so that they can find their way to the people who need them the most.

In any case, I've found the lesson of impermanence to have been a valuable one, along with the survival skills I've managed to pick up along the way. The luckier survivors of natural disaster coupled with governmental callousness and incompetence will learn those same lessons.

[mdmc]

13. I'm rebuilding at 35

and a student of impermanence..

[Lib Grrrrl]

16. Join The Club

I, too, am in the unlovely position of having to re-invent myself at the age of 35.

My life has turned to one great big pile of horseshit under GWB, and I will never forgive, nor forget.

I wouldn't vote a fucking Republican as DOGCATCHER...let alone to Congress or the White House. not that the republicans ever had much chance of getting my vote, anyway, but now, they have absolutely ZERO CHANCE.

I mean, if a Repuke is running unopposed, and requests simply my vote of confidence, they are not getting it, I'll leave that vote blank! That is how badly I hate the Republicans now.

They fucked up my life. I hate them with every fiber of my being.

[mdmc]

24. 35 is the new 18, lol

I fell into a bad depression after the 2000 selection. I was pissed, and determined to do something about it.
I was just as pissed at the "fold em" dems. Fight for fucks sake!
This isn't Nader's fault; we were so far to the middle that the left was wide open. :mad:
Anyway, I ran for office in 2001.
We did all this campaigning, then bam! 9-11. The war president. Dems folded even more (I never thought it was possible).
Depression was here to stay.
Then 2004 :eyes:
Now 2006...

[area51]

14. Welcome to DU, blues90.

Great post.

[blues90]

18. Thank you for the welcome

Reinvention of one's life seems to be the only way to survive right now . Hearing that many people will change careers and or jobs every few years is a bit unsettling . This is out of survival and because job security is now about as secure as our ports and borders or out future for that matter .

It comes as quite a shock that you have suddenly become obsolete or not economically viable . You reach the age of 50 and you suddenly find yourself faced with reinvention and redefinition , not an easy task especially under pressure , the bills keep flowing don't they ?

At 56 I have found this all out . My past experience is still usable but with no jobs left in that field my working experience for the last 30 odd years does me little good . I decided to sell off what I can easily live without to have some funds to survive and also as part of the reinvention process . Now I did finally find a job , at least it was the first call back I got in months . I feel completely out of my element in many years . I am going to fund raise through a calling network beginning this thursday and to be honest even though I passed their tests and read a script and go the job I still can't imagine what they saw in me to call me back the same dat as the interview asking me if I could start . I am nervous entering a new world but I don't have a choice so I tell myself , I can do it , it is a job and I don't have to worry . The one motivator is it is at least for a good set of democratic causes and environmental issues . It is state of the art , this makes me truly feel like old school since state of the art I am not .

It could lead me to a new direction in life since the old one is now gone . I am trying to remain positive with this . This is difficult with the weight of the state this country is in since the bush assault team is crushing this country into fragments which are all based on lies . I still can't quite get it into my head there are people who actually buy into the rush and coulter and right wing religious fanatical views .

All I want is to end this attack on the middle east and see the victims on all fronts live on with a hope for some future they can adapt to while still feeling comfortable with who they are and were .

[marions ghost]

19. A really GOOD question....

It's easy to be philosophical if you are NOT struggling under Booshco. But it's just about impossible to be confident about our chances for political reform while in freefall with no safety net in sight, as all too many Americans are. Or even if you are managing to plug the dike momentarily, it's still a difficult leap of faith.

If this is a "great" country then we should have some means and mechanism to reverse the damage, to
change course in midstream, to right the abuses of power at this point in history. However that appears to be a faith-based notion right now. It remains to be seen whether it can actually be done. The crystal ball is cloudy. We must not give up--it is far too soon for that. But we should not be required to operate on delusions of the extent of our power on paper (eg. The Constitution) either. We have one important thing--numbers. Regardless of our differences, many of us are still charting a course away from the darkness that surrounds the current party in power.

[blues90]

20. It is a crazy thing

What I mean to say is here we have not only democrats or progressives as well as none religious and religious people sighted to suffer or already in a world of hurt . There are also moderates and re pubs sitting in this same pool of loss .

This is one part of this state of horror we all share in and yet there is this division . I wonder if these people vote or are in denial or just simply ignorant or not effected yet .

Do people actually think that the bush monster cares what party people relate with ? If you are poor or middle class or one of color then these people are all on the hit list , it's just a matter of time before many more are standing with nothing left to loose . It doesn't matter if they worship a life size bush/condi poster hung on their bedroom door and they do this every day , the door will be their last passage before the streets have become familiar territory .

They better wake up soon and begin fighting with us because we are fighting for them to save ourselves .

[Little Star]

21. You sure said that right! n/t

[Vinca]

23. You're exactly right and it can happen to JUST you.

Take health insurance. If you don't have it, it's a no brainer you're living on a time bomb. If you have it, you think you're safe. Safe until an incredibly expensive illness comes along and you're on the hook for 20% of a quarter million dollars plus who-knows-what uncovered expenses. I've never felt as insecure as I do now.