It takes a good amount of moral courage to admit you are struggling financially and you’re pissed at the people who directly or indirectly pushed you into this situation. You want to choke-slam them all, but you are not some douchebag like Rhode Island congressman Patrick Kennedy. Remember when he pushed around the guard at the airport. If that guard was my wife or sister I would have taken a trip to the Cape and punched that twerp in the mouth. We are almost a little ashamed to admit that, as Jason Jarvis put it "I'm angry, I'm frustrated. I'm pretty desperate." Not because you are about to miss your plane, but because you are broke, out of work and in danger of loosing your home -thanks to people like Patrick Kennedy for not doing the job they are paid well to do and not being responsible with the millions of dollars that they possess but didn't earn. We have enough maturity and self control. It wouldn’t be wrong to bitch-slap some elitist prick who never had a job in his life and then because he is late for a plane puts his hand on a working American woman and shoves her backwards. Was she on time for work that day? Is she making a base of $150 K plus all she can skim on top of a trust puppy fund started from her ancestors’ dirty dealings? What does that take in per year? I guess that we owe you a debt of gratitude Mr. Congressman, you don’t even need a job yet you work hard at being a congressman, for a measly –three RI family incomes per year plus perks and benefits. Thanks. I hope the next girl that you assault empties her bottle of mace in your face while she kicks you in the nuts multiple times -and then makes your lawyer write her a check. The upside for those of us with anger management issues is that we only need to have enough self control to keep from throwing the first punch, or uttering illegal words. When we are angry with just cause we need to stare without blinking into the eyes of our opponents and with a comfortable smile and a clenched fist, wait for our confidence to diffuse the situation and send it away or cause it to attack –and get it’s lights punched out. Nobody wants to be a victim any more than they want to become one. That’s why it takes courage to say “I was working hard and doing well enough to be satisfied with having half as much as my parents did at my age, for the same work…and then this economy of the last few years crushed me. I am now a victim of foreclosure, unemployment, under employment, illness without insurance. I can handle about seven debt collector calls, but that eighth one is going to make me punch a hole in the wall, make my wife cry, kill the day’s happy mood, steal some of my family’s smiles.” There is no shame in distress if it doesn’t cause you to loose two very important things: Hope and honor. A brave gesture made by an unemployed / under-employed couple from Westerly, Rhode Island was of course misinterpreted by some other people including the Westerly police. Responding to some ding-dongs’ complaints, the police came out to “warn” the couple, married 16 years with two teenage sons at home, that this patriotic symbol was upsetting the neighbors. One guy was seen taking pictures of the American Flag that Kelly and Jason Jarvis hung on their porch –upside down; while saying “it just ain’t right!” No Buddy, it’s right. It’s all good. The Jarvis family was making a brave and helpful statement about their distress. They called attention to the distress of over 56,000 unemployed Rhode Islanders, with the second highest rate in the country, along with the thousands of others in danger of loosing homes they have lived in for years, and maybe even built with their own two hands. The U.S. Flag code states that hoisting a flag upside down is acceptable for announcing that American people or property are in a state of extreme distress. No one should have a problem with that. Keep a light on it at night, and keep your work ethic, character, and hope in the light -until this all turns around, and the sun rises on the horizon of better days. When certain Americans become more sharing and less greedy, more productive and less lazy, more ambitious and less entitled, more focused on the important big picture and less distracted by egocentric little self serving goals like attaining unbridled wealth, popularity or power...Then maybe the Jarvis family and the rest of us will be able to achieve our humble and more noble goals: “We’re just small people here. We don’t expect to ever be millionaires. We just want to pay our bills, live comfortably and enjoy our house.” –Kelly Jarvis That is all most of us want. I sincerely want to thank this couple for their statement. I will tell anyone how I became a victim of this economy: Read - http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1129460/ill_take_the_blame_for_the_housing.html?cat=54 I try not to sound whiney about it. I try to sound grateful for what I still have, and positive that I will make a “comeback.” I contain my anger. Thanks to Kelly and Jason I’m going to make a more public statement for the benefit of everyone who is in our situation. I will be hanging a flag upside down too. I will do everything in my power to improve the situation. My first and most important step was to vote enthusiastically for Obama. I’m going to continue to support his administration and I’m going to hope and pray for my country. When I’m fully employed, and caught up on my mortgage I’ll hang my flag right side up again. Source: Article by A. Kuffner. Providence Journal
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