Today on my way to work I got behind a vehicle with an Arkansas license plate but a spare tire cover from a dealership in New Orleans. Our paper reported 9300 folks from Louisiana now living in our area. With all the coverage of the one year anniversary, we all are remembering the bad news.
Recalling seeing all the Louisiana license plates in all the Little Rock motel parking lots last year…the upending of lives due to the storm.
Last year a couple different folks from New Orleans, now living around here, came in soon after the storm. They had lost all of their hobby supplies. I tried to give them some supplies because I didn’t want to make any money off of their misfortune. Just didn’t seem right. But they wouldn’t take it. They appreciated the gesture but wanted to pay my regular prices…you gotta love model railroad folks. They said something like “yeah but you gotta make a living…” Still didn’t feel right.
There was that photo, I think in Trains or MR, of the pile of train stuff, ruined, out on the curb.
Anyway all this is reminding me of the recent rash of complaints about how much stuff costs and how we can’t afford to buy more stuff. With the anniversary of Katrina…maybe we all ought to be grateful for what we do have…and thankful that we didn’t lose everything. Instead of complaining.
Not trying to preach…just a thought. For what it’s worth.
Well Said, You never know how fortunate you are until you see someone worse off!
David
I agree. We model railroaders, who obviously have some disposable income, should not be complaining about anything. For those who don’t know what disposable income means, it is generally considered to be money we can spend for non-life-sustaining luxuries like a hobby and going out to the movies, going to Disney Parks, buying jewelry, etc. There are around 5-6 billion people on this planet and MANY are just trying to figure out how to get enough rice to feed their children TODAY. They don’t even think about tomorrow, let alone any luxuries.
My wife and I live in a modest condominium, yet I have the luxury of a nice train room upstairs in the finished attic. We have 2 cars, central heating and air conditioning, flush toilets, a refrigerator for keeping food cold, a dishwasher, a stove and microwave oven, electric lights, and TV’s, DVD player, computer, and yes, a nice model railroad layout. Every night when we go to bed I tell my wife how lucky we are and remind myself about all those people out there who are trying to “get that bowl of rice” for their families.
One track mind made a good point…we all should consider how lucky we are and stop complaining. Maybe I’m so appreciative because I’m old enough to remember my grandparents talk about using an outhouse out back as a toilet and having no central heating, let alone air conditioning. They ate beans and rice most of the time and maybe a piece of meat on Saturday night. And, oh by the way, aren’t we lucky to be living in a country where when your heart gets messed up, there is a heart-lung machine available to hook you up to while they sew new feeds to your heart to replace clogged arteries?
Be happy and feel lucky…because you are.
Mondo
TOTALLY GOOD POINT!
I kind of suggested last year that we might all think of donating some of the models we never get round to using to help these people out. yes, you have to make a living but I’m sure we’d all like to help genuine cases. Question is “How”?
Let’s pray for a quiet hurricane season this year!
Ruined train stuff is no fun [:(]