Omar Sharif, Egyptian movie star, you will remember from his portrayal of Doctor Zhivago in movie of the same title, said, “I love making movies but my first love is horse racing. I have a large stable of race horses, the problem is, the losers eat as much as the winners.”
More and more, I feel I have lived a fool's life, particularly this week, when I learned that the mortgages would be paid by the government for those who have lived high and mighty in big houses they could not afford. And now in this depression, they will continue living high and mighty, the government “bailing” them out by paying their mortgage while those of us who lived as tight as possible in order to pay our mortgage, pay for their “bailout.”
I was raised in poverty, no inside plumbing, I believed that “honesty was the best policy,” and “character determines destiny, “ I was in Sunday school in church, and prayer meeting every time the church door opened. I studied hard in a small country school, always made top grades, never got into any kind of trouble in my life. From a high school graduating class of thirteen, I worked my way through 8 years of university education by going to class during the day and working at night, selling Bibles door to door down every “pig path” in eastern NC for 8 years in the summer, I received a direct commission as an Army Medical Officer, after internship on staff of army hospitals (during Korean War).
I came out of the military disabled, and was still in military during the Vietnam War. The best way to show the public appreciation for my service: I was on the second floor of the Duke Eye Center, directly across the street from the VA hospital, during the student uprisings against the war. A black nurse in my room, (I was an eye patient confined to the bed) expressed her disdain for the military and proceeded to spit on me, which my mother cleaned up later when she arrived.
To show the difference in hospitals, the Army sent me to Massachusetts General, where I was treated much better and given some encouragement with my disability. I remember the first time I was fed, after micro surgery, the woman feeding me said, “ life is not over for the blind, I am totally blind and I work with the blind in the hospital.” I came back home, was decorated in Washington and went to work in real estate and the stock market. I started out at absolute zero, but I was fool enough to think I could work like everyone else. By the time I was 40, my net worth was over a million dollars, plus God had directed me to travel the world, because he wanted me to sense his creation.
I bought and sold much real estate, ten units on Wrightsville beach alone, which I cleaned, painted, and did all the things that a sighted person would do. Then, as now, I had someone to drive my car and do the things I cannot do for myself. But, as in all those years of University education, I lived on almost nothing in order to meet my obligations of mortgage payments, utility payments, insurance, taxes, etc.
I am now 79, all my buildings have been paid for, but I still live as frugally as ever because it is my desire to give most of my estate for Christian awards and scholarships. I like good food as much as anyone, but it has been many years since I ate in a first class restaurant, or had a real piece of meat. I do not own one article of clothing that was not purchased in a thrift store. It has been 25 years since I bought anything new, all my furniture is second hand. But, I have not asked the government for a bailout and I resent the government “bailing out” bankers and executives, and even reckless citizens with credit cards.
I have much experience with VA hospitals, both as a doctor and as a patient. When will Mr. Obama “bail out” our finest who are lined up in wheelchairs in those places. I have stood in Normandy where 9,700 are buried and in the Philippians where 17,200 are buried. They were buried just wrapped in a flag and all the bailout billions will do them no good at all.
At the VA Hospital in Millington TN, there were 4 WWII veterans who had lost both arms and both legs. Many from Iraq and Afghanistan were subjected to even more injury. Their bodies were returned for burial here, those who survived, but what will Mr. Obama’s “bailout billions” give-away finances, which will put all of our great grandchildren into desperate poverty, accomplish?
What I should have done as a young man was have a good time, drink lots of alcohol, use some high class illegal drugs, stay totally away from the military, never spend any precious time in study on any level, eat expensive food like everyone else, pay no attention to menu prices or price tags on anything, and just enjoy life like many losers who are in politics and popular in the clubs around town.
God forgive me because he forgave me, I tried to be a winner because he expected me to cross the finish line as a winner and my faith is the only thing that has helped me endure the darkness.
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