I was going to come post in here for all to have a Merry Christmas with their family and friends.

I'm going out on a limb that most of us have rather comfortable lives, even if there's a bit of hardship. I read stories more and more each day of families where both parents have lost their jobs and it's a struggle to keep food on the table and a roof over that table that isn't part of the rest of a homeless shelter.

A few years back when I first knew (or least had a strong gut feel) that there was going to be a big recession or even a depression coming, thoughts rolled in my mind of soup kitchen lines (based on pictures I've seen from life back in the 1930s).

But these new stories are really making things much more clear and they gnaw at me from way down inside. While I *knew* something bad was coming, my comments then just didn't really have the weight to myself that they should have.

I feel sad and helpless that there's not really anything that I can do, specifically, to help any particular family. I make damn good money at my job but I have some massive obligations that will be another year before they're paid off (from some bad business decisions on my part several years ago).

But I live like a king compared to many others in this still-great nation.

I feel guilty sometimes that I think my life isn't that great right now. I'm still living paycheck-to-paycheck and having just been dumped two weeks ago by someone I thought might be someone I could spend the rest of my life with. But I *do* have a job. A great one. And while it hurts to have loved and lost, I'm not wallowing in despair and know I'll be just fine.

But still, I live like a king.

And if what and how I'm living is what it means to be a king, I'd gladly abdicate this throne and do what it takes to see 586,000 people NOT lose a job this month or next month.

I maintain hope, though. To borrow a line from one of my favorite movies:

"Hope is a good thing. Perhaps the best of things. And no good thing ever dies."


So I bid everyone a Merry Christmas and may the new year bring hope to those without hope, joy to those who've suffered, and peace to those in struggle.