I am so frickin� irritated! Ok, maybe not that irritated, but peeved to say the least.

Let me give you some background first�.

It all began in a quaint and remote Tuscany village�.
Ok. I�m just being silly here. Tryin� to lighten the mood.

Seriously, it all started 40+ years ago in a teeny, tiny town called Weidman. (In case you�re wondering, it�s pronounced Wade-man.) A middle aged man saw an opportunity to buy 80 acres of land for an extremely reasonable price and jumped on the deal.

He was married and had 6 kids. Soon, the kids were grown and they moved away. They got married and had children of their own.

The man and his wife weren�t seeing eye-to-eye and so they parted ways. He soon fell in love and married again. This new wife provided him abundant love and happiness. The man was overjoyed. He was so pleased with his second wife that when it came time to deed the property, he gave half to his wife�s eldest daughter. The second half went to his oldest daughter.

And so it was.

And life was good and everyone was happy.

And then�. the wife became very ill. She passed on and the man was beside himself with grief. His wife�s daughter was angry that her mother had passed on and turned that negativity inward. It began to consume her and soon, she was seeking to unleash her rage on the man�s family.

For years, it was a struggle to collect her share of the property taxes. It was always a bitter battle between the stepdaughter and the man�s eldest daughter. During this time, more of the man�s family--- his adult children and now adult grandchildren) moved on to various portions of the land. No one had to pay any rent; the only requirement was for each family to pitch in towards the combined taxes.

Unfortunately, the man could not have foreseen the loss of his second wife so soon nor could he have known that hit stepdaughter would become evil. It was also unfortunate the sweet and generous man failed to have his children added to the property legally. When he finally tried to go the legal route, he couldn�t afford it. And, the stepdaughter would not relinquish her portion of the land.

Time passed and while it was difficult, somehow the taxes end up paid in full.

And then the man fell in love yet again. He married and decided to leave his home on habitable portion of the land (the front 40 acres) and move south with his new bride.

In the meantime, four of the six adult children continued to live on the land. Many of them fell on hard times and then even harder times. Many of them decided to waste themselves and their sorrows in a bottle or a joint.

They lost jobs and money. Wallowing in self-pity, more drinking and drugging ensued. With their dad �out of sight� (and out of mind), a few of them decided they couldn�t fulfill their end of the bargain and come up with their portion of the property tax. So, the eldest daughter (one of the non-drinkers, non-druggers and one of the responsible ones) decided to call upon HER children for help.

Four of her six children came from all parts of the nation. The plan was to clean up the make-shift dump on the back 40 acres and see if there was enough metal to sell. Loads and loads were hauled off to the scrap metal yard. If memory serves correctly, some 30,000 pounds of metal---in one form or fashion--- was sold. The tax money was raised, the �dump� was clean and neat, and everyone was happy.

A couple years pass and the eldest daughter�s eldest son finds out that the taxes are due soon and many residents have not paid their portion. These alcoholics and drug abusers have the money for their beer and their pot, but somehow haven�t managed to save a dime towards paying their miniscule part of the taxes.
The eldest son of the eldest daughter decides to send out a letter to his brothers, sisters and cousins asking them to help raise the money for the taxes. He doesn�t want his mother�s father�s property to be seized by the government!

His very diplomatic letter was full of good points. However, he failed to realize that it isn�t the responsibility of the people who don�t live there to come up with the money. It is the responsibility of those who have the fortune to live rent / mortgage free to finance the taxes.

So that brings me to why I am mad. Some of Ben�s aunts and uncles are irresponsible and lazy. While they�re sittin� around getting drunk and high, the rest of that generation either works hard or saves Social Security money to make the bill each year. Why should this generation (Ben�s brothers, sisters and cousins) bail out the losers? Why should they be allowed to continue in their self-destructive ways that are, in essence, responsible for this whole mess in the first place?

I have stated my case very succinctly to Ben: I don�t want a solitary penny of our hard-earned money to bail them out! If we are going to contribute (the letter was asking for as little as $20) then I feel that these degenerates should be evicted!!
Don�t think I�m cruel and heartless to want to put out Ben�s aunts and uncles, but consider the alternative: if we all pitch in now and help raise money to pay the property taxes, then the drunks and druggies will have even less of a reason to pay. They will see a pattern form and realize that they don�t HAVE to try to make the payment because ultimately, their nieces and nephews will come to their aid and take care of the money FOR them.

Call me crazy, but that�s just how I see it!

Until next time�peace, love & HEALTH!!!