An Occasional Rant

 Good Morning, I'm trying to keep this more upbeat.

   On Oct 18 Elaine and I were rear-ended in traffic on our way home. The young driver was trying to merge out of a lane that was soon ending, and I was stopped because of the bumper to bumper traffic in front of me. WHAM, and it was very loud. Elaine suffered a little whiplash and is still working on the recovery. She missed a day of work for the discomfort. Thank God there is insurance on both parties.

   But what if there wasn't insurance and even insurance works in an insulated and out of touch time frame. Our car was towed to the lot the police said it should be towed to. So we had to get our insurance company to tow it to the acceptable repair shop. If it's not on their list, they can't pay for it as quickly, they say, and we become responsible for the initial payments until reimbursement comes. What if you can't afford that big an outlay first?

   We got a rental car, but insurance doesn't cover the whole time you need it for. Parts are delayed because of Covid, of course, and it takes longer than anyone thought. But the clock stops on the rental anyway. WE have to pick up the tab for that, with the hope the other insurance company will reimburse us, someday, but in the mean time, our money goes away for this.

   Today we returned the rental car, because it's so expensive to keep, and we were promised our car would be ready. Well it's not, something else was discovered as they were testing it to return to us. so another weekend and another week to go, maybe. I'm glad my PT is done, following my hip replacement surgery, so I can manage without a car, unless something comes up. This is going to add to the diminished value of our car, should we decide that because the damage was more than they expected, we will be very nervous about driving it. More on our nervous system.

   In the middle of this 25 day car hassle, Elaine's cousin died of complications from Covid. Now we are trying to juggle that, and the service they have asked me to lead to bring them some comfort from a familiar voice, and juggling how we can manage the disruption of life again, one on top of another.

   Covid has had influences on life, far more than we anticipated when this began. The Covid pandemic has altered the way we live on so many levels, that we aren't recognizing until an auto accident or injury introduces into the mix. We human beings need personal touch and support and connections, and for the family, not sure if it's wise with Covid in the mix, to do the normal, gathering, comforting, hugging each other things. Even the Funeral is going to be a hybrid, some in person, many on zoom, in order not to add to the devastating numbers, in our family and in general. Early on, weddings and funerals were the biggest spreader events, and we remember that. How Long Oh Lord! occurs to many of us in the middle of all of this.

   My rant, or discomfort, or blurting out, is because life has become so more complicated as we move on. Being a child was so easy, Mom and Dad, handled everything. Food was there, Homework, but all our friends were doing that too, and life seemed to be normal. Now people we love die, routines are disrupted and it may take weeks for what needs to happen to actually happen. People are not in touch with each other as we used to be. Animated phone calls can't help explain the unique circumstances that tragedy can inflict, and so we wait for a real person who has some power to do something unique because the computerized system doesn't know what Covid does to delivery schedules. But the real people decided that this was all too crazy and the highest number of people who did work, are quitting than has happened in 25 years. The vacancies are keeping us from getting answers...

   Speaking of job hunting. it used to be said, it's who you know that counts, but the who you know has turned over the job hunt to an animated system like Zip Recruiter, or Indeed or many others. The computer looks for trigger words that might fit the criteria, but if your resume doesn't know to include the trigger words, because you have done a unique and effective job but can't translate that to computerize, you can't get past the long line of applicants to fit the right job. My parents and Grandparents on both sides of my family lived into their 90's, which means I may be going into 100, if you just take the average increase of longevity from one generation to the next these days. I would love to continue to contribute using my talents and experience as long as I can. Moses didn't start until he was 80 for Pete's sake, But computer reviews look at the Date of Birth and discount you, not knowing a thing about you. When will this begin to be reviewed and reconsidered. How desperate do we have to be to rage against the machine....

   Okay, I've sounded off enough. I thank God, I can pray about this, and find comfort in God's presence with me in the middle of all of this. I wonder how people without faith resources are managing?

   Until next time, may God Bless you in ways you can recognize.

Retired and waiting Pastor Jeff