Sunday, March 16, 2008

Men as Monks

Men as Monks. A friend of mine and his family visited my family and I recently. He was very concerned that since he is a building contractor and because there was no work he had had to go back to work building houses just like when he was in his late teens, 20s and thirties. Luckily, he was physically capable of the adjustment in his early 50s. He also said he was afraid every time he went up a ladder onto the roof knowing if he fell his family couldn't survive without his income. Though he has fixed interest loans on his extensive properties one fall off a ladder could mean the end of his family.

What I'm saying here is that it is not just the subprime loan holders who are harmed by what his happening. It is also a wide range of previously wealthy land owners barely hanging on now unless their properties are completely paid for.

I looked at him across our large dinner table and said, "It doesn't matter what happens to us. We're monks. However, it does matter what happens to our families." I'm sure many or most husbands and fathers feel this way now across the globe. For all intelligent pragmatic men know in their hearts that many will die around the globe. Many many will go homeless. And many who don't deserve it will die through starvation and other ways.It's 1929 all over again on planet earth. Let's hope there is an FDR, a Churchill and others to save us this time as well!

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