By Admin1 (admin) (pool-141-157-69-95.balt.east.verizon.net - 141.157.69.95) on Sunday, April 25, 2004 - 1:36 pm: Edit Post |
The Peace Corps official came around to deliver us our paychecks, no one came. The next day passed and nothing
The Peace Corps official came around to deliver us our paychecks, no one came. The next day passed and nothing
Budgets can have personal impact
The county council is in the midst of its budget process. Have any of you ever put together a big budget? The largest budget I have ever put together was just under $1 million for a newspaper I worked for.
And that was work. But what governmental agencies go through is probably the closest thing to hell that I can imagine.
They are pushed and pulled from all sides, making no one happy. They have to satisfy staff, which put in lots of work on the project, yet not forget that it is the people they are ultimately responsible to.
It is work.
But all this pales in comparison to something like the federal budget. I can't even imagine the process there. You are talking about so much money that it is almost frightening. No, it is frightening.
And if you think the council or the school board - or even the Legislature - forgets about the little man, then you really have to wonder if he ever even comes up.
I was personally a victim of a federal budget battle once and it was no fun.
It was 1979 and I was serving in the Peace Corps in Africa. We were not paid a lot as volunteers, but it was more than local workers and if you managed your money wisely it was enough to survive the month.
But that was all.
Well, on the day that the Peace Corps official came around to deliver us our paychecks, no one came. The next day passed and nothing. Now, it was not like here where you could pick up a phone and call. Communications were not really that advanced.
Finally on the third day, he comes by. But with a story and no checks. He tells me that Congress and the president are in the midst of a budget battle and have not passed a budget bill or a continuing resolution. So no pay.
Now, if one thought that that was hard on a worker at home, who maybe had family or savings or something, for us it was death.
I had no money, no food and had not eaten that day. The official expressed his sorrow and said he'd come back the second he got the money.
But for me, it was very bad. So I got some friends I had made in the school where I taught, filled my duffel bag with whatever I thought I could spare - some clothes, books, utensils, stuff like that - and we hiked into the jungle.
There's a small village not far from the school so we went there to barter. I traded my possessions for yams, potatoes, a chicken, some tomatoes, some onions and whatever I could stuff into my bag. (I carried the chicken, which another friend killed and cleaned for me. I will admit, I can eat it but can't kill it.)
I got enough food for about a week - if I ate modestly. And although the diet was boring, it was something to eat.
Luckily, the official came back about four or five days later with my check. And I moved on. But it was an experience. I had been hungry before, but not like this. I had never faced starving before and it truly gave me a new perspective on the ability we have to run to Sonic or Smith's and get something to eat.
But of course here, they won't trade you a bag of potatoes for three novels.