Where are "the people's voices"?

As I watch the 6 o'clock news on Channel 9, I hear the voices of mortgage lenders and auto makers arrogantly asking for money from our U.S. Senate. I have to think to myself, "What gumption it took these CEO's to waltz into this meeting after walking off their private umpteen million dollar jets, boasting of their 9 million dollar annual salaries while the rest of us "little people" struggle just to be able scrounge up $100 to buy our children Christmas presents this year!"

My daughter said her class discussed this bailout fiasco with their teacher and they came up with this formula if the bailout money were distributed to us instead: if each adult in America where to get a cut of that money, we would have each gotten $200,000.00! Can you believe this? Now, I can't speak for all of you readers, but this is what I would do with my share: I would pay off my debt, donate some to charity, put some into one of the local banks, buy a much needed new car, invest some in the stock market and, by doing all of this, be helping the economy tremendously! Think about it, if we all did this with our share there would be no failing banks or mortgage companies and the car dealerships could be sitting pretty making their huge salaries, still.

So why didn't our Senate think of that proposal for the country instead? This is a question that keeps going through my mind every time I hear of another large, filthy rich enterprise going to Washington to beg for a cut of the bail out money.

What is wrong with this picture people? Why aren't "the people's voices" being heard in front of the U.S. Senate? I have not seen or heard of one organization that helps the poor going before this committee to request funds to bail us out, have you? Instead, I hear of our local governments making more deep cuts into government run programs like Health and Human Services and Medicaid, programs that actually help the poor.

Don't they realize we are the backbone of this country and provide the salaries the rich so boldly show off as their badges of honor? We are the "consumers" of this nation, the wheels and the grease of our economy. We are the ones who keep the larger companies in business. Without us there would be no economy. Why can't they see that we, "the little people", are being pushed down into more financial trouble than anyone else out there in this recession? We're the ones losing our homes and our livelihoods and this is why the larger companies are failing.

If these companies fail it is because of their own greed. I find it hard to believe that they've all made trillions of dollars profit over the years and haven't saved any of this for a rainy day. Maybe they should be the ones sacrificing and making cut backs in their CEO's salaries and luxaholic lifestyles instead of taking money away from the American people to fund their own greed and desires. Maybe they should be trying to help out the American people by sharing their wealth and reinvesting it back into their own companies by creating jobs for us or allowing us to keep our jobs.

My college sociology professor brought up an interesting theory that she felt most of the rich uphold, and that is we, "the little people", are an expendable burden on our society. Because they believe this, they then discriminate against us because of it. No longer are the colored, the women, the foreigners and the children considered the less valuable in this society but now it is anyone who makes under $250,000.00 a year and to some others it's anyone who makes less than a million. We are no longer considered useful to this society but only weigh this country down. Our lives have no value and no matter how hard we try to get a foothold and pull ourselves up, they, the rich, will not give us that last bit of support to help us reach our goals and succeed. What are they so afraid of losing? Why has their wealth come to have more value than human lives?

If you try to ask them to give up some of their wealth to help this country as a whole, you will have insulted them. Life is not about sharing or acting as a group in their world but it's more about who they believe they are. It's not having empathy for their fellow human beings, but how comfortable they are and how how much status their money gives them. As long as they have this lifestyle, they consider themselves happy. But are they really? I don't believe I've ever met a truly happy rich person. Have you?

Personally, I have never been wealthy and probably never will be but rest assured, I am happy and content 99% of the time.

What brings me this joy and happiness is the love of my children and having friends I can trust. I have so many riches I didn't have to buy at a store and I can access them anytime I want. I haven't been to the fancy beaches of Mexico but I have been to the beaches of Maine and N.H. and had a blast! My life is filled with love, laughter and true joy beyond what I could ever describe to you on paper and it's all free!

I think I know why the poor aren't headed for Washington to beg for some of that bailout money. It's because we know something these wealthy people haven't figured out yet. We've found the secret to our own happiness, the true secret. We don't need to beg for more money because even if we can't afford to buy the expensive Christmas presents for our children this year, we know we'll still enjoy our holiday season with each other. We know it is love that makes us truly happy. Good, pure, honest love for each other. It's that simple.

Food for thought: Jesus's answer was right on target when he told a very wealthy man that asked him how he could enter the gates of heaven. Jesus told this man to give all he had to the poor and follow him, God would provide for all of his needs. The wealthy man looked at Jesus in surprise and said he could not do that, to which Jesus replied that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the gates of heaven.