I remember the first time i drank cool aid. It was just after high school, and i was having none of it.
We lived a good life. Grew up upper middle class, and my life was so much more fortunate than most of my friends that i was embarrassed to wear new shoes to school. They were poor. They had dry bread and spam in the morning for breakfast. I had scrambled eggs with toast. They bought cool aid for a quarter a packet, added a litre of water, sweetened it with brown sugar, and drank cool aid at lunch time. i drank fresh squeezed orange juice. Yep, I committed, after tasting cool aid, that it was bad for my health and my teeth. Cool aid was for poor people.
Recently though, i find myself thinking about cool aid. A lot. I think to myself, that it's amazing that one packet could make a whole litre of juice. And i think, boy, with orange juice at $3.96 that would be a saving of: a lot of money!
I know that for John McCain and his Republicans, "this election is not about the issues". With $300,000 outfits for one night, $600 shoes by McCain, too many villas to count, $100,000 in debt at 0% interest, i don't know what world they're living in. I was never quite there, and if i was it's all gone now. For me, now, it's all about the cool aid.
Eight years ago, we had a sunny outlook. The market was so-so. We had a few hundred thousand dollars invested around, and we were working our butts off trying to plan for our retirement and sending our kids, of teenage years and not yet born to college. We were known for always having cars that would at any minute gave it's last breath (we prayed while we drove). We were adamant about not buying new cars. we have used furniture. we have used dishes. we eat out once in a blue moon. we order in food about once a year. my husband wears clothes until I look bad (when friends start coming to ME to laugh about the holes), and despite all my protests he continues to sneak into Walmart (gasp) to buy socks. And that was BEFORE George Bush.
And what did we do with our money? We invested in our good health by buying organic foods. So that was our one splurge. I remember the nights of sitting on the sofa (used, but renewed with a new slipcover from a online discount store), talking about the trips we would take when we were old and gray.
He has always voted Republican. We have a business, and for several other reasons, he thought the Republicans were more pro business, low taxes, blah, blah. I've always voted Democratic. We hardly talked politics, except for the occasional heated discussion over his continued love relationship with Fox Propaganda.
Suddenly, a few years ago, something started to happen. The business began to steadily lose money. We were spending more money for insurance, and upkeep, etc. but there was less business. Suddenly, we were working more, and getting less. Suddenly, we were getting up earlier, working longer an harder and still things were going downhill fast. There were fewer clients. We began to hear their stories too. They were leaving the neighborhood. They were getting evicted because they were losing their jobs, they couldn't pay their rent, they couldn't buy gas to go to work, they didn't have enough money to buy food. They were moving closer to their jobs. We couldn't move - our business was here. our kids schools, our family, our home.
Suddenly, we were terrified. and Oh, we're one illness away from disaster, with no health insurance.
The grocery bill suddenly went from $350/month to $825/month! There was NO denying it. There was no way to watch it on t.v and brush it off as other people's problem. The market was taking a beating from hell. I cut out my kids activities, worried about buying gas. We stayed home for the entire summer. And i mean, we only went out to buy groceries, and also used that time to visit the playground. Organic foods are now a luxury. I began adding water to the orange juice (it's too acid anyway!), and if you don't eat all the vegetables on your plate, be assured it will make a comeback later in the day! I began to tie-dye clothes that were so stained it was embarrassing for my kids to wear. My 4 year old brought me her stained shirt the other day - "look Mommy, time to tie-dye."
Forget vacation. That's for rich people. No more talks on the couch about traveling, and retirement. Our savings are down to a frightening almost null and void. More arguing and fighting over who brought 2 heads of broccoli at the store, what cut of meat is that, and "What?! you had a late credit card payment?!"
As for those life sucking pieces of plastic, called credit cards. On my credit card, i will add the packet of cool aid i was thinking of buying recently. it's less than orange juice, and people do it all the time, right?
I now suffer from insomnia, as i lie in bed wondering how we will pay off our bills. I have nightmares about money. My husband, thankfully, falls right to sleep - wakes at 4 am though to get moving to work more to get less.
So now, my husband is paying attention to the election. He became interested after he couldn't understand why i was sitting on our used couch looking sad, but hopeful too. And during the primaries, this lifelong Republican jumped the fence, and voted Obama. I don't know if i should show my hand, and let the McCain people in on this, but he said : I don't even care if he raises taxes! We're losing our country fast, and something's got to change."
We went to a family BBQ recently. My White husband, in a sea of Black folks, who could hardly contain their affection for Obama . It was on the day of the Biden v.p announcement. They walked past my husband, trying to contain themselves, trying to respect the assumed Republican voting White guy.
My husband laughed and said loudly, "We're voting as a family this year. We're all voting for your guy, Obama!"
So you see, I know it's not about issues. I understand that. For me it's only an issue of Orange juice versus Cool.