A Complete Life

 

At 73 years of age and easily looking down the road and seeing the end of my journey, it is confidentially easy for someone like me to look back on their life and state with complete certainty that my life has been complete...

Obviously, I was raised WHITE which to many blacks is a sign of automatic privilege but that was not the case with me, although, I was raised to have solid religious beliefs and a propensity towards the Democratic Party as it relates to the general public.

But, outside of being WHITE all my life, I graduated high school as well as college and graduate school and spent a few years in the military.  I have been married twice, owned all my homes, achieved a debt free status and maintained it, travel throughout Europe and the Caribbean, as well as the US, Hawaii, Alaska, Mexico, and Canada.

I am the father of exceptional daughter who would be exceptional even if I was not her father.  I have experienced the pain of two dying parents and have owned several vehicles, stereo equipment, electronics, and home theater systems.

I am a survivor of two still on-going cancers (Melanoma and Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma) and have also survived a lethal heart attack because I had kept my body healthy earlier.  No other internal organ damage done as a result of over 12 years of chemo, radiation, surgery, chemo, and immunotherapies.

I have had the mental determination and ability to stop smoking without any other aids, loose weight, and complete a 45 year career reporting pseudo intellectual assholes who by the grace of God had superior positions to my own and could therefore direct me according to their imbecilic plans.

Rather astoundingly, I have managed to actually save enough squirreled away monies to pay the living expenses of our current lifestyles for my wife and I to extend out lives to 95+ plus years should the occasion arise for us to live that long.

All my life, I have maintain the desire to have either cats or dogs live in my house with me, although have pleasantly discovered that cats are easier to take care of than dogs, but in some cases, are not as friendly as dogs or perhaps as stupid in some cases.

I have never been wealthy and never really wanted to be wealthy although I have fantasized about wealth and what all it could do for me, but even if I was in possession of wealth, I doubt that I would change my current lifestyle, except maybe fly first class more often.

I don't play golf and never wanted to and while I was an avid JOCK in high school and college have very little desire to watch, attend, or follow professional or college athletics.  Therefore, all the sports channels on CABLE are irrelevant to me.

My brother and sister and I do not get along and as my brother has told me who is 8 years younger than me, we have nothing in common; although, I believe our parents, if they were still alive, would disagree with him.  The 3 of us have different lifestyles that do not mess when together and the reality of any family reunion results in not have much to share with each other, especially since I am the only cancer/heart attack victim in the family.

If I were to die today, would I have wished for a more complete life than the one I have had...   I don't think so...  but then again, we don't know for sure how that will be until we get there, do we?

My Own Creation

Throughout my life, I have allowed my personality not my mind nor my heart to do the talking and while I have felt that I have been a person of integrity, I have also ended up with no friends either personally or family and in a marriage that is more convenience than it is love.  I have set my life up to be harshly judged by others and instead of making allowances because they are my friends or family, that is exactly what they have done...  In essence, I have received and am currently receiving exactly what I deserve.  The only real companion that I have, outside of God, is my Siamese Cat and my two other cats who just want to be rubbed or desire food.

Immunotherapy drugs, infusions, and an experienced and intelligent Oncologist are keeping me alive so that I might experience more of this life while inside my thoughts, I feel that I am being kept alive by God because I have something yet to do.  Who knows...  both could be right.

I have just enough money saved to pay my bills along with the monthly contributions of Social Security which will either stay the same or increase because the Democrats won the election.  However, that increase will be taken away through increased taxes leaving our Federal Government with a net increase of ZERO...  so, the money to pay our bill must come from somewhere.

In General, some of the American Public believes the government wants to stop ABORTIONS while there are some who believe the government wants to take away our GUNS.  Either way, I don't care because I have never owned a GUN and I will never need an ABORTION.  However, I do believe that ABORTION is a RIGHT that should not be funded by the government, but should be funded privately.  But, who really cares what I think anyway?

I do BELIEVE that the GLOBAL HATRED of Americans is not the result of 4 years of TRUMP but the result of DECADES OF ARROGANT AMERICAN LEADERS who believed that the rest of the world so be DEMOCRATIC.  What America is going through now is because we are DEMOCRATIC and have freedoms that the rest of the world does not have.

DEMOCRACIES HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO DESTROY THEMSELVES BECAUSE OF THEIR DEMOCRATIC FREEDOMS...

but,

we are too smart for that...  right?

Just as my life is a result of my own creation, so too will America's Life be a result of their own creation because the MAJORITY will always rules and as it rules, it will always DESTROY the minority in the process to the point of resentment and retaliation.  History has proven this to be true time and time again...  and, we are IDIOTS and rather STUPID IDIOTS if we think that this time will be different.

The more we change ourselves POLITICALLY the more we damage our FUTURE...  just like I have damaged my future...

Median Household Income

$66,538

Sentier Research has suspended reporting its monthly Current Population Survey-based estimates of median household income. Political Calculations' estimate of median household income rose 0.3% February 2020, increasing from January 2020's initial estimate of $66,370 to $66,538.                  Apr 2, 2020

HOWEVER...

The national median family income for the United States for FY 2020 is $78,500, an increase of almost four percent over the national median family income in FY 2019. Twice this change is 7.9 percent which is greater than five percent, so this higher value is used as the cap on increases.       Mar 31, 2020                         Source: Novoco.com

WHO DO WE BELIEVE?

According to PEW RESEARCH CENTER:  2.6 people per household

Note: There are two ways to look at trends regarding households in the U.S. In this analysis, which treats all households equally, the average household has 2.6 people. Other analyses look at it through the prism of the average person and find that the average person lives in a household with 3.4 people.Oct 1, 2019

What is the cost of living in the USA?

While the data varies widely from State-to-State and from source-to-source, what I am able to ascertain is that the median cost of living in the USA is $4,100 to $4,500/month.

$66,538 -  from the first source

$78,500 - from the second source

$145,038/2 = $72,519 

$72,519  @ a 2019 tax rate of 22% will leave this family with a net income of $63,816.72

$63817/12 months = $5,318

THEREFORE a typical average family in the USA will have enough money to pay their monthly bills with about $1,000 left over each month to pay State/County taxes, Property taxes, Holidays, Birthdays, and vacations...

States with an INCOME TAX is no less than 7%.

7% of $63, 816 is $4,467 or $372/month

NOW...

Let's take a look at our statistical data...

Three words MUST stand out

MEAN (Average)

MODE 

MEDIAN

Note:  Average and Median ARE NOT typically the same number

Example:

Let's work with the following numbers

01

01

02

02

05

06

07

08

09

41

The average of these numbers is 41/9 = 4.5

The median of these number is 5

The median is that number which is in the exact middle of the data set which in this case is 5 because there are 4 numbers behind it and 4 numbers in front of it...

Most people think AVERAGE and MEDIAN are the same numbers....

...and they say that IGNORANCE IS BLISS...

Burning Bridges

At 72 years of age, I have had plenty of time and plenty of experience destroying friendships in an effort to test their sincerity and I am not really sure why I ever needed to test their sincerity in the first place but I did.  Perhaps, this is a carryover from how my parents raised and treated me...  perhaps not...  I guess I will never know and there really is no reason why I should know...  it just is what it is and to date, I literally have no friends except those friends that were my wife's friends first and accepted me as a friend because of our marriage; but, they are more her friends than they are mine.

Still, because of my actions, not only do I not have any friends but my brother and my sister really have no desire to spend anytime with me because of my "dark and mysterious" attitude, behaviors, and not totally sure what will come out of my mouth that will upset or offend them.

In addition to my family and friends, during my 45 years or work, I managed to get myself fired 10 times because of my mouth...  that averages out to getting fired about once every 4.5 years...  that ridiculous behavior resulted in me not having a retirement income from anyone other than Social Security and whatever I could manage to save.

Burning Bridges I suppose was stupid.