What's YOUR "End Of The Road" Plan?

[Unperson 309]

Friend of mine and I were discussing "What will we do when it comes down to the end?", meaning, if you are bankrupt, homeless and unemployed.

His decision was "I'll simply stop paying my taxes, turn myself in to the government and let them jail me! I'll have three hots and a cot."

When I asked him what he would do if they *didn't* jail him, he said "Cross the border with about a pound of hash hanging out my pocket! THAT ought to do it!"

I shuddered at the thought, but wondered... maybe the soaring rate of folks imprisoned represents an unheard-of but growing demographic: those who have voluntarily committed some crime in order to just *live* in this horrible economy!

While it's not a bad thought, I've decided (having once been at that extremity, almost homeless, etc) that I'd simply eat a 45 caliber sandwich, to quote a police officer friend fo mine who joined the discussion. I don't think I'd survive in prison and a bullet to the brain is a lot faster.

Although, a third plan suggests itself... My friend's wife thought of this one...

She said that she would take out one final credit card that she'd saved for just this thing. She would buy a brand new SUV, take her worst enemy to lunch and then drive over a cliff with both of them in the car! The insurance papers list her husband as beneficiary! Ouch!

"I'd be getting the world rid of one obnoxious car and two obnoxious people at the same time!" she said with a wicked grin.

So.. if you were at the end... what would you do?

309

[Kanary]

1. I doubt your thread will be allowed to survive

If you'll pardon the sorta pun, but I'd like to add mine to yours, while I have the chance.

It was heartbreaking a few weeks ago to see on the front page of the Sunday paper, an article about disabled people being cut from yet one more program.

One of the guys said that he was tired of trying to be a "nice guy", and that he was toying with the idea of immolating himself on the capitol steps, in order to make a point.

Y'know, I'm really ashamed of my country that we are having to think in these terms.

And, disgusted that it seems to register so far down to those who supposedly care.

Kanary

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

2. Just die on the street, like everyone else.

Heck, I wouldnt kill myself. That would just be giving in.,,besides I couldnt do it. I'd let nature run its course.

[Jack_DeLeon]

3. Depends.

Dont know what I would do if I were already married and have kids who depend on me.

If it happened before that I would wander through the US trying to eek out a living just like some people did during the Great Depression.

[Warpy]

4. I'm a nurse and I've cared for more than one guy

who socked a cop to get carted off to jail so he could get medical treatment!

Face, it, folks, this country is getting worse for too many people. Something's got to give, and soon.

[indigobusiness]

7. You know of what you speak.

It's in the fan.

[vetwife]

5. I don't have one...But I can tell you this...if I were the type & I'm not

I would get my 15 minutes of fame !I am not the type to give up. I worry people to death till they want to give up !

[AndyTiedye]

6. Why?

"Homeless and unemployed" isn't the end.
Just time to get out of Dodge and head for the hills.

In the given scenario, I'd run up that credit card (or sell the
pound and invest the proceeds) on camping gear and a bicycle,
if I did not already have them.

[Unperson 309]

10. Nice If You're Young and Healthy...

I'd probably try the same thing, but BTDT when I was in my early 20's. I'm nearly 60 now, mobility impaired and not nearly as strong as in my youth.

The Missus is also near 60. Probably if we're lucky, friends would take us in for a while. In my younger days, I daydreamed of creating a huge house/commune with all my god friends living there nearly rent free because there would be so many of us!

Maybe it's time to dust the dream off and see who would be willing to find that scrap of land and some canvas...

We could call the encampment GOPerVille!

309

[Kanary]

11. Much easier to say that when you're male.

[Zorra]

8. Wow. I haven't been to the States in 2 1/2 years.

From the tone of your post, it seems like things have really gotten worse up there, and a lot of people are in major debt. Considering jail and suicide as options?

Come on, y'all, get some grit. It's a big world out there. If things aren't working out for you where you are at, go somewhere else and start again, (if you are physically fit), and have some faith. I'd pick up aluminum cans on the side of the road, pick apples, wash dishes, etc., or poach deer and trout and live in a shack before I'd willingly go to jail or kill myself. You'd be surprised at what you might find if you just get up the gumption to look for it. If you have kids, it sure isn't going to do them any good if you are dead or in jail.

There's a rainbow gathering in California going on right now. If you feel hopeless, pack up and go to it. You just might find yourself coming away with a new perspective on people and life.

Don't let the bastards grind you down - that's what they want.

[htuttle]

9. I was homeless during part of Reagan's reign

The first, most amazing thing I learned after a few weeks, was that contrary to what I'd been taught as a child, if you lose your job and house and end up outdoors, you DON'T necessarily just 'die on the street'.

The first few weeks are just scary, but once you adjust, it's kind of a life. It's better than being dead, and way better than being in prison, in any case.

You'd want to quit smoking BEFORE you end up in this situation, however. Craving a cigarette is one of the worst parts of being homeless. TIP: Look on the ground around bus stops -- you find big butts, since the bus always arrives as soon as people light one up.

Seriously -- it's not the end. FACT: You were designed from the ground up to live on this planet. Physiologically, anyway.

[nose pin]

12. Good tip

On finding butts, I mean.

[nostamj]

13. overdose

aging, alone, unemployed with few prospects...

hope things turn around but, i'll never take to the street or burden my family that can't take the burden.

[Kanary]

14. An observation to consider......

Noticing the replies......... *all* are individual solutions. Nobody is talking about getting together with others in the same boat, and working out some contingency plan. I have elderly friends who lived through the Depression, and say that today's people probably wouldn't be able to make it, because they don't know how to rely on each other, and help each other. Point to ponder. How have we lost touch with any sense of community?

Chiding others for not doing as *you* say you will do doesn't really change the situation.

Kanary

[Just Me]

15. When I graduated from law school with my 7 month old baby in my arms,...

,...I figured I could conquer whatever challenge came my way. Oh, yes,...by the way,...I was a SINGLE MOM (and "daddy" has never physically participated notwithstanding my encouragement,...except for a few hundred bucks each month).

Well,...I was wrong.

I could "blame" and "blame" and "blame",....

,...and I do when I can stop blaming myself,...

,...but,...I figure,...

,...the problem is both bigger than I am,...and a part of who I am,...

So, I shoot for being a part of the solution rather than being a burden associated with a problem that I have nothing to do with.

I can only do the best I can, as any human being.

[mermaid]

16. My Plan

Well, I had enterained thoughts such as that, at one time.

The year was 1997. And I had a suicide plan. I was gonna do it, and nothing was gonna stop me. I was gonna make a statement, and go out with a bang!

This takes a bit of setting up, so you understand the story.

I am a transsexual (now post-op) At the time, I was pre-transition (meaning I was still living as a male.)
I had started a job with a well-known nationwide temporary employment agency in New Jersey, in 1996. I cannot name the firm, and I'll explain why later.

I informed them, prior to their hiring me, that I was in psychological counseling leading up to hormone therapy, and eventual cross-living, as required by the Benjamin Standards of Care for candidates wishing to undeergo sex-reassignment surgery.

They hired me, anyway. At the time, I was presenting as a male, my name was legally my original birth name. A coupke months later, I began hormones, and legally changed my name, to my new female name.

The company issued me a new employee identification card with my new legal name on it, and changed all my payroll and H.R. records to indicate the change. They began to pressure me as to when was I going to being the "real-life test" as it is called (this is the one-year period in which candidates are required to live for one year in the role of thier target gender.)

I told then that, when my therapist felt it was a good idea, I would transition.
That time came in January, 1997.

I was told that I could proceed with transition. I did so...and the fired me for doing it!! I love it...they said I could...and then fired me for doing it!!

They basically were trying to force me to choose between a livelihood, and life itself, because, for me, life as a male was no longer tolerable.

Well, after they fired me, I devised my suicide plan.

A friend talked me down, and talked me into moving in with him...seven hundred miles away, where I would be far enough away to make carrying out my plans difficult. But, here was the plan...

I was gonna go into that office, so help me God...with a gun. I was gonna get every one of those bah-studs on their knees...begging me for their lives. And I was gonna enjoy their groveling for a little while.

Then, I was gonna look at all of them, and say..."Look at you pathetic bah-studs...on your knees, begging for your lives! You know, a month ago, I was on MY knees...begging you all for MY life! You didn't give me my life...you took it from me!! Unlike you...I am actually going to give you your life...AND MINE!!"

And then, so help me, I was gonna blow my brains out right in front of them, and make sure the brains splattered on them, just so they would NEVER forget!

In the end, five years later, I got better revenge.

I had sued them in the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, Civil Rights Division. five years later (and with never having had legal representation), I had so adequately proved my case as to force a settlement.

The terms of the settlement forbid me from disclosing the name of the company in question, which is why I was not able to name it above.

Two years ago, I returned to the United States, from Thailand, where I had gone to recieve my final surgery. The poetic ustice is incredible...the people who fired me for being a transsexual wound up, in effect, financing my surgery!!

And what kept me going that five years?? I will tell you. My friend said something to me back then, and it has stuck with me ever since...and I still use it in times of hardship..."If I quit now, the bah-studs win!"

I'm DAMNED if I am going to let them win. I will not quit!! They will have to take me down.

reecently, I'd been unemployed again. I threw a rotten newspaper route in order to make ends meet, worked any temp job I could find...until I managed to find another job.

I have now managed this. But, if I could not have...my mother did offer to let me move back in with her for a while. This was NOT an option for me in 1997, because my father was still alive back then, and he totally did not go for my transgender status.

Back then, I'd have gladly died of starvation in a ditch before going back home, and being forced to live a life of misery as a male.

The point of all this?

NEVER GIVE UP!!!

[vetwife]

17. Never Give up ! Never !

The word should not even be in your vocabulary !