Today was a good day.....

After over two weeks without power and over ten days without a hardline phone, both are back on.

Last week Alex and I went to the city council meeting, concentrating not on our misfortune caused by JSO and the SAO and their negligence and stupidity, and the injury to my knee caused by it all, but on the evil murder of Alex's dog, Sqt Pepper.

We bought power from neighbors paying about $5 a day to run extension cords and I reverse ran hose lines from another neighbor at night to fill up our tub and do dishes at night. We used candles, propane lanterns, flashlights, and treated it like camping.
The experience humbled Alex and was a good lesson for him, teaching him temperance and faith, and how to see good even while suffering adversity.

We treated it like camping...

But last week I posted our story and sent it to city council members, and asked them to see if anyone could help, and Alex and I went downtown on Veteran's Day and passed out 500 tiny fliers with the story of the murder of our dog and the injustice I spoke of, and then Carolyn Jones of DCF showed up Friday and asked for a copy of our utility bill.

This morning our power was on, showing that as many rotten and corrupt people who are out there and will undermine good people who stand up that there are also good people who will work to help those they know they can or should.

I have spent a lifetime trying to do right by people. I remember in the winter of 85/86 I was on the Jersey Shore, coming back from a club called the Green Parrot one Thursday night, and I was in Asbury park, right near the train station/city hall/police station complex (the station was in the center of both). and at 11 at night they would open up the station for the homeless, anywhere from 20 to 40 people...

and I knew about them from missing my stop and having to get off there at last train and go back a station....

and I looked inside, heading north and stopped at a red light, and the crossing arms lit up and I heard ding ding ding, and I cut my wheels to he right and crossed the tracks and went to the WaWa (like a little champ) and bought all their coffee and a bunch of doughnuts, and went and fed everyone.

The train track lights went off like an alarm, telling me to act....

I was co-owner of a restaurant in Red Bank, and I would make soups from leftovers and go feed people there, and asked neighborhood businesses for extra sweaters, coats, blankets, food...

and out of nowhere others started going there at night, and started helping me, some taking over certain nights...

the county shelter was at Fort Monmouth too far away from the labor pools and work near Asbury... and I ran into people who were bums who would never try to advance, and others who were good working people who just ran into bad luck or misfortune, and out of a spur of the moment decision to help others others joined in and I found the humanity of so many people I never knew cared as much as I did...

and that has been how I lived for the most part, and my karma over it would see bad times and I would worry a bit, but deep inside I know I will be okay, and that anyone can always take bad and try to make it better.

And once again my faith is restored, because I know someone somewhere saw what has happened to us and did something to help. I was for so long too proud to accept help, first to offer, last to accept, so this has also taught me some humility...

but Alex is the one who has benefited the most.

We all take so much for granted.

So our light are on again, and I got some minor work. Due to the fall I can't climb a ladder for long or well, and it cost me, but I dealt with the pain and got work that was just enough to get some money....

and just yesterday a friend came over, and she needed a few bucks to get some paperwork to get a staffing job, so we covered it, and her tire was bald and the belts separating, so I got her free tire...(it was a used tire-the mechanic who's shop I recently painted, who is fighting to keep his lights on and has owed me $400 for a month now hooked me up for free, one good deed leading to another) even though we were broke we helped her, because that is what we should do if we say we care about each other and really mean it.
and today I was repaid for my faith and keeping to my ideals because where I had no means of coming out of the hole right now we got some help.
I had saved enough money and got paid enough to even get the phone and internet back on... and have $14.00 left over...
and I started a new sideline today... removing the oxidized yellowing glaze from plastic headlights on cars for $30 a car instead of the normal $20 a side most detailers charge, and even got a job a hour after making $4.00 worth of fliers...
I may not be able to climb a ladder or work well, but I can sit or stand and polish out headlights back to clear and new looking, and if I do three to four a day I can meet my basic bills..

So my heartfelt thank you to those who do care and moreover to anyone who acted to help us. I honestly didn't deserve or do anything to cause the recent hell we have had to all suffer through, and to have other come to my rescue like I have come to others in the past has been rewarding as it has been stressful.
My son better understands the meaning of steadfast and that hope is good but taking accountable action and not giving up holds great value.

I am still a cynic and skeptic, but I am always an optimistic pessimist.... trying to see the bright side of bad crap....
I still believe I was a target for standing up and speaking out, and maybe naive for doing it by myself with little resources, and while I am he last to believe in conspiracy theories, I guess now maybe that I acknowledge them they can work both ways...
some really respected and influential people, even past adversaries, have told me to keep fighting and standing up, that too few do it, and that there are some people out there who understand what I fight, why and how.... they get it, and that is also reassuring.....

I am far from the only one who is suffering, and many suffer worse that we do and I have, but I hope than anyone out there who understands their duty to their conscience will see my and our recent ordeal and story as one of hope, one in a long line of people who suffer bad fortune, bad luck, and the brunt of adverse circumstances, so by chance, maybe others by design... the design comes from good people as much as bad, and the good ones make worth most of the hell that comes from the bad.

Maybe I will lend my voice again. I had stopped caring for a while, just being fed up with everything.... but a pity pot is something I never liked, and was uncomfortable.
My main problem was laying out too thin, so maybe if I am seen again it will be dealing in more specific and targeted areas.

Adversity has a value all its own....