We're in Trouble

Saturday night, I got to see a old buddy. You know, the kind you don't see for two years, but when you do, it was like only a day or two had passed.

Before I go, I had to stop by the gas station and gas up. While in line to pay, the lady in front of me was asking the cashier for some cigarettes. First about her. Short, young, and overweight. The cashier carded her for cigarettes, so she looked like a late teenager maybe young twenties. Her order: Marlboro Reds, two boxes. After getting her ID back, she slides her credit card in the machine and it gets rejected. She acted like there was something wrong with the machine and tried again. Rejected again. She looks at the cashier as he shrugs his shoulders. Then she grabs a second card! Swipes and and shocker...rejected. So she tries it again and again it was rejected. Then she leaves with her smokes still on the checkout counter.

In this day of healthcare debate and taxes on the rich and such, I learned a lesson from this girl. You can't fix stupid! If you have zero dollars in your account and are over you credit limit, do you need to be spending $11 on cigarettes at a convenience store? Let's break it down.

1. She's overweight, clearly she was not taking care of herself physically. Especially considering her age. Are you ever going to have more free time to exercise than you do at that age, and is it ever easier?

2. She's a smoker. Probably not helping item #1 by the way. I don't really have an issue with people that smoke as long as it isn't around me. I think it is nasty, but don't we all have a habit that someone else thinks is nasty? I wonder if she read the warnings on the side? Isn't that the solution to our healthcare problem...warning labels?

3. She's out of money. Not only is she out of money, she is clearly living on credit cards and credit card debt. If she was to shred those cards and live on cash, she'd know that she was out of money. More concerning is that I'm sure she knew that she was low on money, yet she had $11 to spend on smokes. Not milk, or bread or diapers or soup, but smokes! So, she is mounting debt and wasting money.

4. She is shopping at a convenience store. About a quarter mile away is a giant Wal Mart (with significantly lower prices), yet she chose the most expensive place to shop. Maybe this feeds into #3. I've never priced cigarettes, but I'd be willing to bet they are much cheaper at Wal Mart than Shell. Any bets?

What I quickly realized is that this girl is most likely in poor health (or soon will be) and has no money...HELLO HEALTHCARE, and HELLO TAXES! There are tons of people out there who make responsible decisions that just need a little help, but this girl just feeds my cynicism. How can I gladly pay my taxes, when I know people like her are taking them to buy smokes at Shell? Maybe she does deserve healthcare, but what if her health problems are self imposed? Should I have to ante up for that?

Maybe in my land of rainbows and unicorns, she left the Shell and said, "what am I doing?" Shortly after that, she threw away all her cigarettes and lighters and such. Then she used the money once wasted on smokes at Shell and started paying down her credit card debt. She also started walking 2 miles 4 times/week. Two years later, she was down 35 lbs. and paid off, then shredded her credit cards. Good For Her!

You write the end of this story...I want to, but don't believe my ending.