Nobody, at my brother in law’s yard sale, asked him why he was selling his items so cheap. He lived in Connecticut at the time. He used to be a VP working in finance in NY. He used to take the train M-F to the city. But, he got laid off in his mid 50’s and found out he’d aged out of his career. Nobody would hire him. He stayed unemployed for years. He even got certified to teach school but they kept choosing the younger candidates.
By the time my brother in law was selling all his prized possessions, he and my sister were broke. They had to sell everything fast because they couldn’t afford to live there anymore. They were selling their quaint little house on acreage because they had to do it. The guy that bought their home had it bulldozed so he could build a mansion.
That’s how things happen in the real world. Nobody asks about the sad story behind the liquidation. They grab the bargains, count themselves lucky and move on.
In the hypothetical world, we virtue signal and blow smoke up each other’s asses about how we’re good people. It’s a bunch of BS. I’m a realist. We aren’t going to save the world by lying to each other and ourselves about the way the world actually works.
I know you guys and gals don’t want me to leave this on the dark side of truth, so I’ll lighten the mood a bit.
Things worked out ok for my brother in law and my sister in the long run. He landed a job as a CFO with an American Indian tribe in Tucson, AZ.
American culture threw him away as too old to work in finance. But, American Indian tribes tend to have a different culture. They revere old and wise people.
Of course, my brother in law and sister loved Connecticut. They’d rather live in the lush green and big trees of the East. They don’t like the heat of the dessert. But, as the wise old song writers wrote, “You can’t always get what you want. But, if you try, sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.”
