11/09/2023
It’s a little long, but OMG is it worth the read!
Jim was an upstanding man in the community. He had a wonderful wife named Jane. Two children, a boy and a girl. He had a decent job, he always followed the law, and he paid his fair share of taxes.
One day, the government came for his neighbor because his neighbor was in debt and defaulted. The neighbor seemed ok, but you never can tell with people nowadays. Yes Jim closed the curtains thinking to himself that the neighbor must have been a secret drunk or drug addict or something else equally tragic. It had nothing to do with him and his family so it really dosent matter.
The price of everything is raising so much, and it’s getting harder for Jim to convince his bosses he needs another raise, but between Jim and his wife Jane they make enough to pay the bills and keep some food on the table for the kids. They even have just enough left over so the kids can do after school activities. Jim and Jane both work so much they don’t get a lot of time together, it’s starting to strain the marriage, but they love eachother so they hold things together. More of Jim’s neighbors have been driven out, so many of the houses on his street are standing empty suffering neglect. It dosent matter though because he and his family are ok.
Things kept getting worse, Jim heard some people talking about how they should all stand up together, but he could barely hold things together as is, it’s a problem for someone else. The children, now teenagers, are working and Jim and Jane are debating wether they should have the children help out with bills. They both still work good decent jobs getting hours, but the raises stopped. They tried looking for better jobs, but being overqualified seemed to be a common phrase handed with the rejection. The kids already pay for their own after school activities, yet Jim and Jane are struggling to pay all the bills, and keep a decent amount of food on the table.
Jim stares out the window watching another neighbor being forced out of their home. That was Charlie, and he was a good person. He had an accident a few months back, and that must have put him in debt. Poor bastard, but Jim wasn’t really thinking about Charlie, he was thinking about the words his wife had just spoken. “I want a divorce”. The words still burned in his brain, his heart. She had been talking with someone on the social media, and apparently he had a better job, she expressed how the financial strain and stress of never seeing eachother, coupled with the kids being old enough to go on their own-and she had just fallen out of love with him and in love with the social media boy. No Jim still did not care that another neighbor was gone, he had his own things to worry about.
The day finally came, Jim knew it was coming soon. Without his wife to help, he started falling behind on the bills. First it was just one credit card, then another, then it just kept sn*******ng as he lost more and more of his financial leverage. Jim tried to reach out; friends, family, part time minimum wage jobs to add on his already decent earnings-it just wasn’t enough. *KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK* Jim tries as hard as possible not to make a sound, maybe if they think he’s not home they will go away. *CLICK* the deadbolt unlocks and the door swings open just enough to be caught by the chain. “Mr. Jim, we know you are home, don’t make this harder than it has to be, you will be charged for any damage we have to do to get inside” a gruff voice yells from outside the door. With a sigh Jim gets up and goes to unlock the chain and let the door open fully. “ pursuant to financial code …” Jim hears but dosent hear the gruff man resignedly explaining that because he fell behind on bills he was being kicked out of his house which will be auctioned in order to cover his outstanding debts. As he is being escorted outside to follow them to a processing office, he desperately searches up and down his street, hoping there might be anyone around who could save him and his house. Only his street and neighborhood are already empty, he is the last one left. He failed to stand up for any of his neighbors, and now there is no one left to stand up for him.
