I just finished reading an article in Time that said the 2000's was the "Decade From Hell." It listed a lot of events to back up its claim: 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Afghanistan, Iraq, the economic meltdown. Of course, I can sum up my displeasure for the decade with a single letter...."W." Referring, of course, to George W. Bush. (my conservative Republican readers might want to skip the next few paragraphs, but I promise it won't be a long rant.)
I remember very vividly when Bush "won" the election in 2000. I was married to my first wife, Amber, at the time. I remember she cried and cried and cried for what seemed like hours when she heard the news that Al Gore had conceded the race. Although I didn't cry, I felt a sense of dread. I knew Bush was going to be a dimwitted, "cowboy" president who would probably lead the country into a war. I thought it might be a nuclear war, but luckily I was wrong in that regard.
It was primarily because of Bush that I wanted to leave America and live in Taiwan. Bush had turned the country into something I could no longer respect. After 9/11 and Bush's invasion of Iraq, we were hated by almost the entire world. To be an American in a foreign country meant to live with a target attached to your forehead. When I traveled abroad, I rarely revealed where I was from, and when I did, I would often tell them I was from Canada. Thankfully, Taiwanese people still loved Americans.
When Bush was re-elected in 2004, I vowed not to come back to the United States until a democrat was back in office. For the most part, I kept my vow. By the time I returned in 2008, I was pretty confident that either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton would be the next president. The American people had finally come around to their senses and realized what a disaster the previous administration had caused to this country.
Since I spent half the decade in another country, I don't really consider this the "Decade From Hell" for me personally. It didn't start off well, since I got divorced from my first wife in 2003, but things started to improve dramatically once I left for Taiwan.
I met my wife Christy in April of 2004, and by November of that same year we were married. Sara was born in March of 2005, and then Kyle in April of 2007. I don't really know why everything happened so fast. It just did. I have no regrets, though. Although these kids can be monsters sometimes, I really adore them. They've definitely made my life a lot more richer and meaningful. For me, they're the highlights of this decade.
Once we came back to America in May of 2008, we had a few setbacks. The great job that was promised Christy did not turn out the way it was supposed to. We lived in hotels while we looked for work, wondering if we'd have to just turn around and go back to Taiwan. Thankfully, when we were just days away from driving back to California, Christy found a job. Then, a month later, I found a job too. We were saved from the brink of failure.
Now as we end the decade, we are getting ready to move into our own house. It feels great to know that we arrived here with virtually nothing, with our few possessions in the trunk of my mom's old car, to having a house, a new car, and some semblance of the "American Dream." Who knows what will happen in the next decade. Maybe we'll lose it all and I'll have to move in with my in-laws in Taiwan and teach English in Nantou. Maybe things will get even better. Who knows? Although I'm hoping for the latter...
I remember very vividly when Bush "won" the election in 2000. I was married to my first wife, Amber, at the time. I remember she cried and cried and cried for what seemed like hours when she heard the news that Al Gore had conceded the race. Although I didn't cry, I felt a sense of dread. I knew Bush was going to be a dimwitted, "cowboy" president who would probably lead the country into a war. I thought it might be a nuclear war, but luckily I was wrong in that regard.
It was primarily because of Bush that I wanted to leave America and live in Taiwan. Bush had turned the country into something I could no longer respect. After 9/11 and Bush's invasion of Iraq, we were hated by almost the entire world. To be an American in a foreign country meant to live with a target attached to your forehead. When I traveled abroad, I rarely revealed where I was from, and when I did, I would often tell them I was from Canada. Thankfully, Taiwanese people still loved Americans.
When Bush was re-elected in 2004, I vowed not to come back to the United States until a democrat was back in office. For the most part, I kept my vow. By the time I returned in 2008, I was pretty confident that either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton would be the next president. The American people had finally come around to their senses and realized what a disaster the previous administration had caused to this country.
Since I spent half the decade in another country, I don't really consider this the "Decade From Hell" for me personally. It didn't start off well, since I got divorced from my first wife in 2003, but things started to improve dramatically once I left for Taiwan.
I met my wife Christy in April of 2004, and by November of that same year we were married. Sara was born in March of 2005, and then Kyle in April of 2007. I don't really know why everything happened so fast. It just did. I have no regrets, though. Although these kids can be monsters sometimes, I really adore them. They've definitely made my life a lot more richer and meaningful. For me, they're the highlights of this decade.
Once we came back to America in May of 2008, we had a few setbacks. The great job that was promised Christy did not turn out the way it was supposed to. We lived in hotels while we looked for work, wondering if we'd have to just turn around and go back to Taiwan. Thankfully, when we were just days away from driving back to California, Christy found a job. Then, a month later, I found a job too. We were saved from the brink of failure.
Now as we end the decade, we are getting ready to move into our own house. It feels great to know that we arrived here with virtually nothing, with our few possessions in the trunk of my mom's old car, to having a house, a new car, and some semblance of the "American Dream." Who knows what will happen in the next decade. Maybe we'll lose it all and I'll have to move in with my in-laws in Taiwan and teach English in Nantou. Maybe things will get even better. Who knows? Although I'm hoping for the latter...
I think it has been the decade from Hell. I'm glad you have pulled out of it, and I hope it stays that way. Much of the rest of my family is still struggling.
ReplyDeleteI wake up in the night sometimes with anxiety, and it feels bad. Our retirement wasn't supposed to be now or like this. It's okay, I enjoy having Larry home, but things will be a bit tight, probably the rest of our lives.
I don't wake up anxious for us though, but for our kids. I cannot see the future. Things seem to be getting worse as we go down the generations.
My mother and her husband retired fine. They had a choice of places to live and enjoyed themselves in retirement.
Larry and I were forced into an early retirement. We had figured we'd move at retirement, but we're not going to be able to.
And our kids, who knows what the future holds? How long and how bad will the recession get? They talk like it is almost over or getting better, but I personally haven't seen evidence of that.
And when they talk about the recession being nearly over, they aren't mentioning the fates of all of us who were forced into early retirement. That group from 62 to 66.
It all makes me question the free enterprise system. The rich got richer, the poor poorer, and it has created permanent problems for some.
I want to have a peaceful retirement. I don't mean more money. We can be satisfied with what we have. I mean I want peace. I want my children to all have jobs that pay well enough to enjoy life. I want everyone to be able to pursue happiness.
I am just starting to ramble now. I cannot believe to this day how Bush stole that election. I wasn't a fan of Gore either, but doubt he would have gotten us into the situation we're in now, so deeply anyway.
You're right about the generations not having it as well as the one before. My parents were able to buy a house in Southern California and live comfortably on one salary. Both Christy and I will likely have to work the rest of our lives to pay for a house in a state I would never have chosen as my "first choice." Although I like Austin, Texas would be at the bottom of my list. But it's the only thing we could do to try to give the kids a life that even remotely resembles the life I had when I grew up.
ReplyDeleteYour father was almost as old as my parents I think. Your mother fell between me and my mother in age. Interesting, how the numbers are. They were still in the group that it didn't hit the fan for.
ReplyDeleteWe, as a nation, reached a certain peak of affluence, and now we're on the downslope, with it avalanching over us all. Larry and I have no chance to rebuild. You guys do, or apparently do. no way to tell what will happen next.
BUt while we were enjoying relative affluence (believe me that is relative) people in 3rd world countries were starving, going without food, clean water, or shelter. And that circumstance exists still today.
So, sad as all our lots in life may seem sometimes, there are people who have it so much worse, and likely always will.