Life Ain’t no Walk in the Park

You Just Gotta Keep on Walking.

Well another election is over and half the country is happy and the other half is sad.  Some foreign countries are making back up plans and others are licking their chops.  Yes, we have that kind of power in the world. We have been divided into voting blocks for way too long.  It’s okay to represent as a Republican or to be a Democrat or an Independent . . . but a voting bloc?  It just means you have been categorized by someone who has something to gain by your support. 

It was about 1964, I was eleven and my dad had something important to tell me.  I always knew when he grabbed me by the shoulders and looked straight into my face it was time to pay attention.  He said “Tony, if you ever have enough money in the bank so you don’t have to hit a lick for a couple of years, you might think you are a Republican.  If you don’t, you are a Democrat.” To tell you the truth I didn’t really understand what he was speaking about but I could tell he was telling me something important. That conversation took place in the space between that little garage and house in the picture.  I have witnessed nothing in the last 60 years that would make me believe anything different. However, I did have a couple of experiences along the way that have backed up my dads’ reasoning.  Let me tell you about one of them.  

It was 1981 and I had been laid off from the Foundry at GM, about 6 months after the Reagan Inauguration.  My new wife and I were surviving on unemployment and a little under the table gig playing music.  As time went on, things got tougher and unemployment only covered essentials with no room for unexpected expenses. 

My unemployment day was Tuesday.  So that morning I gathered up all the deposit bottles in the house and loos­­­e change from the couch so that I would have enough gas money to make it to the unemployment office.  My intention was for my check to get me home.  I drove to the unemployment office in my 76 Dodge Step-Side Pick-Up that I purchased while working in the Pontiac Foundry. On this day, like every Tuesday, the line was long and slow.  After about four hours of waiting I finally made it to the head of the line.  The lady who waited on me was obviously exhausted and perhaps a bit gnarly. But having made it to the desk I was all smiles and happy thoughts when I presented my paper work to the tired lady at the counter.  She took my papers and walked to the filing cabinet behind her and quickly came back; she wasn’t smiling.  Mr. Hufford today would be the day that you could start your Federal Extension because your State Unemployment has run its course.  However, we just got word that President Reagan has discontinued the Federal Extension so I have no check for you today. What . . . no check?  How will I get home?  How will we eat this week? This and many other questions flooded my mind.  I asked “could this be a mistake.” The lady behind the counter just shook her head. My heart dropped and I shuffled to the door.

Now for those of you thinking, why didn’t you just go out and get a job?  During that time, businesses didn’t hire laid off GM workers because they knew as soon as GM called us back we would leave and return to GM.

I did make it home that day, literally running on the fumes.  I did eventually find several part time jobs and was able to cobble together a living and in November of 83, I returned to GM but I never forgot about my trip to that unemployment office and Regan’s hand in that day or the advice of my dad.  Life ain’t no walk in the park…you just gotta keep on walking.