Once again, doing everything right bites me in the ass.
Unlike all of the victims of the subprime crisis... and I do call them victims, I always knew better. I always knew that I need a 30 year fixed mortgage and I also knew that I should be able to afford my home easily. So rather than buying a $400K studio in the most desirable part of town, I opted for a $150K place in a neighborhood on the edge. "On the edge" meaning that it's two blocks from the ghetto, but it has potential to improve. So, happily, I have a beautiful one bedroom which is fully renovated in a less than desirable part of town. I could have done better... but I wanted to do the right thing.
So... fast forward to today. I'm fasting. I decided to make a sacrifice for God so maybe he'll throw me a bone. I am so afraid of imminent homelessness due to job loss that I found religion. I don't need God smacking me in the face, so I'm trying to do something for Him. Today was the first day I trekked out to the temp agencies to register in case (in the likelihood) that I don't find a job. Between that I went to work. The two offices were on far ends of the City and my office was in the middle. I was pooped, I was drained, I was defeated. Life as a contract attorney just seems so daunting. So, needless to say, I was a little down and tired and hungry. I get to my train stop and I get on the bus. The WRONG bus which, in my starved haze, doesn't become apparent to me until I am in the ghetto. Ghetto is defined as an area of my town that has two many homeless men with bottles in bags and too many burned out buildings. I finally turn to my neighbor on the bus and I say, "Where the hell am I?" She tells me that I'm obviously lost. I don't know what to do, I'm hungry. To get off the bus and go to the other side of the road and go back to the train station--only to get back on the correct bus is just disturbing to me. But I decide to get off. I'm wearing an uncomfortable suit and heels from my "interviews" earlier in the day. As I'm getting up, the bus comes to an abrupt halt. I fall into this young man who proceeds to laugh his ass off of at me. I make my way of to the front of the bus to ask for a transfer (after all, I'm unemployed) and she tells me she doesn't have one. At this point, at least in my mind, the WHOLE bus is laughing at me. Not just laughing, but cackling like clowns at me. I don't know what to do. My face turns red and I'm just upset. I literally run of the bus. I make my way across the street to the bench for the bus. I start really feeling badly for myself. My eyes darting between the homeless men on the stoop, the burned out building, the closed stores and the young girls doing some "booty" dance which is nothing my daughters (if they ever come to fruition will be permitted to do). I'm imagining being robbed and shot in the face. I'm scared. Then, this quasi-homeless looking man approaches me with a small plastic baggie which I can only imagine is crack. And I ask, "What is that???" and he says, "It's a gold bracelet, do you want to buy it?" and I just burst into tears.... I told him I lost my job and I can't buy anything and I'm lost. He lays of the sale of merchandise and directs me where to go. On my way to the proper bus stop that will get me in the vicinity of my condo, several really nice and nosey people ask me what's wrong... and all I can say is that I was laid off. Anyways.. long story short, 45 minutes later, I gave up on the bus and walked home, all the while being subjected to men in cars yelling things at me, "Hello" and "Do you know English?" and "Do you need a ride?"
Why does this relate to doing everything right, you may ask? Because I bought a place that is affordable that is so close to the ghetto. Get it? Shoot me!
awesome. thank G-d you made it back ;)
ReplyDeleteMaybe thank God that even though you were stranded in the "ghetto," He put people there that, instead of shooting you in the face, consoled you and directed you home?
ReplyDeleteOr maybe it was God's way to show you that even though you feel like things could not be worse in life because you have a completely renovated condo next to the ghetto, what about the people you saw IN the ghetto just blocks from your home?
But for the grace of God...that could have been you.
Doug
You're so funny. It kills me. And you don't get it.
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