05.27.09
I am so Glad Life is not Fair
Today I was going to vent my frustration – triggered by a telephone call. The call sent my thoughts decades in reverse. Childhood memories triggered. Yes, all the way back elementary school. Certainly I’m not alone in remembering the days when someone in the class, not you or me, but someone else acted inappropriately and the teacher held the entire class responsible. The teacher would either keep the class after the dismissal bell rang, or issued an ultimatum of “no recess today.” All because someone else was smarting off, or didn’t do their work. I remember how I felt, don’t you? I had a smoldering, burning ember inside of me fueled by the thought, “It’s not fair!” Everyone else was paying the penalty for someone else’s behavior.
I was irritated by this morning’s phone call. It was a bill collector calling for someone else, not me. To say that it irks me when a caller is seeking one of my adult children because of delinquent bills or an unpaid traffic ticket is an understatement. I taught them better than that. I can’t even comprehend their reasoning when it comes to unpaid traffic tickets.
So what’s with the phone call? The collection agency wasn’t calling for one of my kids, the person was asking for my husband’s ex-wife, whom I’ll call, Ann (not her real name). Mind you, I’ve been married to my husband for twenty-one years. Ann has never had this address nor telephone number. Obviously a search engine has spit out every possible connection to Ann and my telephone number was among them. I was courteous to the caller, told him more information than he probably wanted to know, but I am hoping word will get out, please, “I didn’t do it and I’m not responsible!”
Not only did the phone call send my thoughts to the past, they flew to the future too. I recently read that our “current administration” is hammering the credit card companies. They will no longer be able to have hidden fees associated with unpaid balances. The purpose is to protect the consumer that gets behind on payments. The credit card companies plan to recover the loss by charging everyone an annual fee for a credit card. I use a credit card for most of my purchases to earn air miles. I pay the balance in full every month. Because other people spend more than they can afford, I will soon pay a fee for every card I hold. It just doesn’t see fair to pay more because someone else can’t manage his money. Granted, some lose jobs and have other circumstances. Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful for my blessings and I want to help those in need. I’m talking about the ones who scam the rest of us: the ones who don’t play fair.
Yep, I was going to really raise a stink about this today. And then I heard my parents’ voices from the past telling me, “life isn’t fair.” It is true life isn’t fair. I am not so perfect and someone paid the price for me. He paid with His life to pay my ransom. Thank you Jesus, that life isn’t fair.
