I'm pissed off... what's wrong with that!

Some people get pissed off and spend years in therapy trying to figure out how not to be, but lately I've been looking at it in a different way...



I've come to realize this year that getting pissed off is my way of taking something seriously enough to do something about it, or at least try to do something about it. Letting things go (or "put it in a bubble" as m family says) is a sure fire way for me to avoid an unpleasant subject or ignore something that will inevitably pop up again, most likely as a bigger problem. For this reason I TRY as hard as I can to deal with things as they are happening... it's also my selfish way of attempting to avoid a log jam of bullshit from popping up in my future. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but I can't remember the last time I felt bad about "dealing" with something.



Lately I'm sure I appear to my friends and family to be angry about something all the time... and they are right... but I am angry about "somethings" (not to be confused with "everything"). The issues we are facing in this county with health care, credit and banking industries, unemployment are all problems that began to directly effect me and my family once I bought my first home in Ulster County, NY. Don't get me wrong, the move I made is one I will never regret, as I love my new town, home and friends and truly feel like I am where I belong... when you feel like that about a place it's easy (and as far as I'm concerned, reasonable) to get angry when something threatens it.



When I first moved here I was working for a company in Westechester, NY and had been for ten years. Even though at the time I was doing well financially, when my wife and I began house hunting we went conservative all the way... we didn't listen to realtors or mortgage companies that told us we could afford a $350-$400k home... we knew better. When it was suggested that we should consider variable rates loans to save money, we went with "fixed" because we wanted NO surprises. When renovating our home, we did ALL the work ourselves... not because we wanted to, but because it saved us thousands and it was the only way we could afford to do it. So I can safely say I am not someone who bought above his means or moved into a home or neighborhood he could afford.

Flash forward to the present...
*when the credit card companies that we always pay on time decide to jump our interest rate 8 points on a whim, not because the will go out of business or their employees will stave if they don't, but because they want to continue to rake in the insane profits they have been getting for years, regardless of whether it will cripple their customers...
*when the insurance company that takes a chunk of my paycheck each week (Emblem Health if you are interested... not that there is much of a difference between any of them) decides that they don't want to cover necessary eye surgery for my son or pay any portion of his $500 glasses which are deemed a "medical" necessity (BTW-the vision plan doesn't cover any of it either because the glasses are considered "medical" and not "optical).
*when a good friend of ours is dropped from her bank for not keeping a high enough balance in her checking account... not that she's bounced a check or anything, her bank wasn't happy that she is paying bills with the money she was depositing... isn't that what a checking account is for? And to add insult to injury they flagged her name so she couldn't get an account elsewhere!

So in short, yes I'm mad... mad at health care... mad at banks.. mad at credit card companies... mad at a system that allows it continue... mad at people who steal millions/billions, yet walk away without so much as a slap on the wrist... mad at companies that base an employee's future financial progress not by the quality of work they do, but by what they agreed to work for when they were hired...

Getting mad at these things is MY way of getting up a head of steam and trying to do something about them, because if I sit back and say "that's the way it is, there's nothing I can do about it" I've given up, and I can't afford to give up. I was looking at a picture of my 104 year old grandmother the other day surrounded by all her great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren and it occurred to me... my wife and I made a choice to bring 2 people into this world, and before long that number will multiply greatly, I have a responsibility to my children (and their children) to try to do something... I don't have to succeed at everything, but I have to try or I will be leaving my baggage for someone else to deal with.

So to finish off this convoluted rant, a few words for my friends and family...

As you all know I can talk for a LONG time without taking a breath, so if you ask me "what's new" I will probably tell you... if you don't want to know or don't have the time to listen, then you are best off commenting on the weather, or better yet you can tell me how pretty my wife is and what a lucky guy I am... then I'll just nod and say "I know".

Peace, Bryan