SONG OF THE VAGABONDS

There were bills everywhere

But I never saw them coming

No I never saw them at all

Till they came due

There’s folks who’re calling me daily

With liens and threats and such

But they only see me quite rarely

I’m rather a bit out of touch.

There are still bills everywhere

Like bullets in a cowboy drama

To pay them I solemnly swear

As soon as I hear from Obama.

Recognize that tune? Telephones play it a lot. They put you on hold and try to distract you with music. Then a young woman comes on and tells you that a represenative will be with you shortly and by the way your conversation will be taped and anything you say or are likely to say will be taken down, altered, and used in evidence against you. (This is the Irish version of the famous English police warning from which we got the Miranda nuisance.)

I exaggerate this of course because the taping is done only for “comparison purposes” and has yet to result in the secret police paying a visit to my house. Young ladies who say “represenative” instead of “representative” are not an exaggeration. That first “t” floors them every time. I must admit that I listen for it and I’m disappointed when they actually get it right. This doesn’t happen too often however.

I hope no one will take the little verse above too literally and start sending me donations to keep my head above water. I’m surviving quite well, thank you, and hope to continue that way. If not, well as you can see, there is one in whom I repose my trust. He didn’t fail General Motors or Chrysler and he won’t fail me. His eye is on the sparrow, as they say.

The economic recovery we may (or may not) be starting to see obviously comes as a great disappointment to a surprising number of people. Reading between the lines in our remaining newspapers you can sense it. The Bush supporters think a really bad depression is just the thing to put Obama on the skids and bring people back to the Republicans. The Obamiites see it otherwise. A big dip will obviously have been caused by the previous administration, not by them, and it will put the Republicans out of business once and for all.

This is the message I’m getting from the political types who’ve got the ear of the public. I understand the satisfaction they take in the kind of outcome they predict. It certainly will be decisive one way or the other. One thing has been left out however. Won’t it be a little inconvenient for the general public to have to endure a depression just to prove that Party A or Party B is a prosperity-pooper that should no longer continue to exist? Couldn’t we do it some other way? One that would be less painful maybe? One without breadlines and home relief and all that? I remember those things all right but I can’t say I miss them so much that I want to see them back.

So much for neuralgia, I mean nostalgia. Writing this blog I’ve been continuously harping back to my childhood for the reason that it coincided with the Great Depression. The continual references to it that are called up by current conditions naturally trigger those memories. Think of childhood, you think of the depression. Think of the depression, you think of childhood. They’re inseparable. (No, I wasn’t depressed.)

I kid about it sometimes, telling people I was born just in time for the crash because I didn’t want to miss it. Then a sobering thought comes: could history be repeating itself? What about that grandson born…last year? Will it be the same for him? Will he have his character formed by hard times? In other words, will he turn out like…me?

I wonder if his parents have thought of this. Maybe I ought to remind them. Well, perhaps not. I don’t want to add to their burdens at a time like this.