He is totally broke. I have not seen him for about 7 years because, well....., because I have not seen him.  John is a nice guy. His mother was a drunk. His father did the best he could but has passed away.  John is an orphan, sort of.  Now he. is an adult but he confessed to me today  that he is right on the verge of being homeless.  The recession has beat up those folks who are on the edge in good times.

    A couple of weeks ago he called me out of the blue after those 7 years. He was looking for work.   I had some handyman type work for him the last couple of days.  So, we have been chatting as we used to do so much in the old days. He said the black fly season is coming to New England.

    “You can take two pieces of bread with mayonnaise on them, wave them through the air on the edge of field and you will have yourself an instant sandwich.”
   

     When I first met him 20 years ago, he was a motor head type  living in the back  of a Chevy where the seat used to be.  He had it parked in the middle of the 20 acres his father had left him.  It was all his father left him.

    One time I introduced him to a lawyer friend of mine at a party. I wanted to say some things interesting about each one of them to the other to kick start their conversation.  So, I innocently said something to the effect of:

    John, this is my friend, George, he is an attorney in Northampton and he likes to watch baseball.
   George, this my friend John, he lives in the back of a Ford that is parked on his own 20 acres. John quickly and abruptly corrected me, "It is not a Ford, it is a Chevy! I wouldn't live in a Ford."

    John felt no shame about living in the back of a car, but he did not like Fords. John is not an idiot. He is just himself.

    Look, some people are not good with money or even planning their lives. They go from week to week. Are they bad people?  No. Jesus said the meek shall inherit the earth. John inherited a Chevy.

    Some people are just not good with money and that is all there is to it.  Money and the pursuit of it consumes all of us more or less most of our lives, but  I now believe that money is not the real deal.  It is only about 15% of the real deal. The real deal is physical and emotional health.  
     A few years  ago, I knew a couple of twenty-somethings who received annual bonuses of 3-4 million dollars and I would not call them up to talk about hamburgers.
    All I am saying is, to keep your head.
     Did you know that there are some olive trees that are authenticated to be 5,000 years old?  This tree below is not one of them, but it is most beautiful.  The photo of a beautiful windswept ancient tree with its twisted old trunk and it stalwart greenery is not here because I am still trying to learn the technical procedure to get photos to you. Thanks for your patience and please use your imagination until further notice.  OOps, I did it I think, Oh my, wonderful.  this is not the windswept one but it is an olive tree. So, I guess the lesson is that one can teach an old dog new tricks!  Did you know that the olive garden Jesus wept in is still there, Gethsemane, I believe was its name.