Eating Water by John Butler

Eating Water

By

John Butler

“I know so many people out there right now that are struggling to make ends meet, struggling to put food on the table, struggling to keep a roof over their heads. Struggling just to struggle…”      JB

Never underestimate the value of a $3 cigar.

Even when everything else in the world seems to be rotting on the vine, holding onto a single, small treasure like a cigar can give you at least a moment to look forward to at the end of a long, long week of sending out resumes, trying to scratch a living off of the internet, eBay, or Craigslist. With benefits having ran out, they take on an even greater meaning that my friend could not quantify. To me, it felt like he was searching for a word that wrapped hope with fond memories and when lit, turned into a moment – a timeout – from all of his troubles.

When all you can afford is one drink, make sure you drink on an empty  stomach.

My friend is a realist in that he sees things as they are and not with labels. The glass is neither half full nor half empty, it’s simply a glass of water that doesn’t look like it will slosh out and splash all over you if you walk with it. Meeting for Happy Hour one day, he sat there with his one, $2 beer and pondered something for a few minutes. He looked up and said, “You know, I can only afford this one beer. But, since I haven’t eaten, this is turning out to be one great beer!” Obviously already buzzed, he slowly sipped the pint and looked more relaxed than I’ve seen him in a long time. Stress manifests itself in many ways and with him it was a weight that bent his back. Hunched over, it seemed like a weight crushed his gaze inevitably downward. But, that one beer on an empty stomach seemed to give him just enough of a buzz that it made him visibly relax; his shoulders loosened, his posture shifted and his eyes lifted up and instead of looking at the ground he found himself watching people walk by. Being able to sit at a restaurant amongst people once every eight or nine days, enjoying something as simple as a beer, seemed to matter more to him than a cheap, enjoyable buzz. It meant, for a few sips anyway, being able to be part of society instead of being almost homeless…

White on White: Mayo packets stolen from the corner sandwich shop and mixed with rice and salt.

When you can only afford a scoop of rice per meal and not much else, anything edible that you can add to it to make it different from the last twenty meals makes a world of difference. Everyone says they crave stability, yet I don’t think anyone would apply that word to their diet. Eating basically the same thing, everyday, is what Jimmy Buffet sang about in Cheeseburger in Paradise, “Warm beer and bread they say could raise the dead…” But, when you are living on $3 a day, variety is usually something you shake out of a spice jar.

Back in our college days, where most of learned how to be Top Ramen gourmets, we quickly learned how to make the most of our beer budget by adding other ingredients to those golden noodles. Moi? I loved cracking an egg or two into the kettle after the noodles were done. They soaked up the spices and became little entrees amongst the noodles. But, when you are on the unemployment insurance diet, loosing weight isn’t a problem. After almost two years on it, you are guaranteed to fit into those “skinny jeans” of your younger years. My friend has dropped over 30 pounds, almost 6 inches of waistline, and every ounce of baby fat he ever had in his face. In fact, looking at photos taken of him three years ago, to looking at him today, you can see how his facial features have sunk. His jawline is more pronounced, his checks seem thin—you can see muscles under his skin if he is eating something crunchy—and his eyes seem bigger somehow…

One day, we were walking through the food court at the local mall and I caught him pilfering condiment packets out of the corner of my eye. Like a pickpocket eyeing a target, he casually drifted towards the table with the napkins and condiment packets of a hotdog stand, pulled a napkin from the dispenser and made a show of wiping something off his hand, all the while looking casually around to see if anyone was watching… Obviously, what he was contemplating bothered him (equally obvious, he sucks at poker). Pulling out a couple more napkins, he grabbed a few mayonnaise and spicy brown mustard packets, covered them with the napkin, shoved them in his pocket as he walked away.

Later, I asked him about it and this is what he told me about his cooking experiment, White on White. Since he is limited to only a microwave to cook with, rice is the bulk of his daily diet. Rice for breakfast and rice for dinner. He couldn’t afford to eat lunch. White on White is cooked rice, salt to taste, then stir in a few of those mayo packets and, voilà, you get something new to eat!

Friendships are rentals.

Friends and family seem to vanish either because we push them away or because we drift apart. But sometimes, we lock ourselves away into a self-imposed exile because of pride. We are embarrassed by our circumstances. We are no longer who we were, at least from our depressed point of view.

Showing up at Happy Hour is uncomfortable at best, often painful, or simply draining of what energy we had left as we simply just to show up. There are so many people out there that have no clue that the person standing next to them (1 in 10 here in California (circa 01/10)) might be unemployed… It’s at those times that you realize that the term “friend” has meaning. It becomes a word that is used to describe those people in your life you can actually talk to and escape your personal exile with for a few moments. They are the ones that will float you $20 until your next Unemployment check so that you can buy 10 days worth of groceries (5lbs rice-$5, fresh veggies-$7, chicken bouillon cubes-$4, special entree of the week (4 cans of chili-$4, pasta sauce, 2 for $4, et cetera)…

Other people in your life will, hopefully, never know or realize that you are (were?) unemployed. These are the people whose “friendship” was rented. They were friends as long as you bought a round from time to time. They were friends when you joined them for Happy Hour once in a while. They were friends that were there only socially.

You know they are rented friends if they never ask, “Hey buddy, what’s up? Haven’t seen you for awhile… Everything okay?”

But, these are the social networking friends that we must ply in our search for employment. These are the old colleagues we bump into from our long lost paycheck days, and lie to, telling them that “oh yeah, things are great now that I’m not with…”

It’s a lie we, the unemployed, tell ourselves, too. We have to. Pride is also rented.

Looking for work is harder than work.

Being unemployed is such a misnomer. Those of us who’ve been unemployed for double-digit months know all too well that we have jobs: Our work is looking for work; our job is getting out of bed every day and trying to remember what day it is (think Groundhog’s Day to the tenth power); our job is trying to force ourselves to get out of bed and tell ourselves that, “Today will be productive.” Sending resumes to every job opening that you want morphs into sending them to anything that you feel you might possibly be qualified for—even those jobs that you have to dumb-down your resume for by cutting out all references to graduate level education (i.e., a Bachelors of Arts degree in Psychology when you’re applying for a job at Subway), redacting all accomplishments (i.e., 10 years of experience as a Technical Field Trainer), and turning past employment into plain vanilla bullet points (i.e., 14 years of management experience morphs into “People Skills”).

My friend has about 20 different resumes that he sends out. Rewriting and editing each one to match the job opening he is applying for because he knows that they will run a keyword search on the resume to see if the correct buzzwords are present long before anyone will take the time to even bother to read it.

It’s time for a reality check

J o h n D. B u t l e r
FREELANCE WRITER

This letter is part of a series of letters from the White House concerning health insurance.

It was forwarded without editing.

Dear Friend, Anyone that’s watched the news in the past few days knows that health insurance reform is a hot topic — and that rumors and scare tactics have only increased as more people engage with the issue. Given a lot of the outrageous claims floating around, it’s time to make sure everyone knows the facts about the security and stability you get with health insurance reform. That’s why we’ve launched a new online resource — WhiteHouse.gov/RealityCheck— to help you separate fact from fiction and share the truth about health insurance reform. Here’s a few of the reality check videos you can find on the site: CEA Chair Christina Romer details how health insurance reform will impact small businesses. Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes tackles a nasty rumor about euthanasia and clearly describes how reform helps families. Matt Flavin, the White House’s Director of Veterans and Wounded Warrior Policy, clears the air about Veteran’s benefits. Kavita Patel, M.D., a doctor serving in the White House’s Office of Public Engagement, explains that health care rationing is happening right now and how reform gives control back to patients and doctors. Bob Kocher, M.D., a doctor serving on the National Economic Council, debunks the myth that health insurance reform will be financed by cutting Medicare benefits. There’s more information and a number of online tools you can use to spread the truth among your family, friends and other social networks. Take a look: We knew going into this effort that accomplishing comprehensive health insurance reform wasn’t going to be easy. Achieving real change never is. The entrenched interests that benefit from the status quo always use their influence in Washington to try and keep things just as they are. But don’t be misled. We know the status quo is unsustainable. If we do nothing, millions more Americans will be denied insurance because of pre-existing conditions, or see their coverage suddenly dropped if they become seriously ill. Out-of-pocket expenses will continue to soar, and more and more families and businesses will be forced to deal with health insurance costs they can’t afford. That’s the reality. Americans deserve better. You deserve a health care system that works as well for you as it does for the status quo; one you can depend on — that won’t deny you coverage when you need it most or charge you crippling out-of-pocket co-pays. Health insurance reform means guaranteeing the health care security and stability you deserve. President Barack Obama promised he’d bring change to Washington and fix our broken, unsustainable health insurance system. You can help deliver that change.Visit WhiteHouse.gov/RealityCheck, get the facts and spread the truth. The stakes are just too high to do nothing. Thank you, David David Axelrod Senior Advisor to the President The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111

Obama’s Supreme Court Nominee

J o h n D. B u t l e r 
FREELANCE WRITER

Just received this and thought it should be passed along without editing or comment.

Good Morning, Yesterday, Judge Sonia Sotomayor made her opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee and moved another step closer to taking a seat on the United States Supreme Court. In case you missed it, watch the video of her opening statement here: As President, there are few responsibilities more serious or consequential than the naming of a Supreme Court Justice, so I want to take this opportunity to tell you about the qualifications and character that informed my decision to nominate Judge Sotomayor. Judge Sotomayor’s brilliant legal mind is complemented by the practical lessons that can only be learned by applying the law to real world situations. In the coming days, the hearings will cover an incredible body of work from a judge who has more experience on the federal bench than any incoming Supreme Court Justice in the last 100 years. Judge Sotomayor’s professional background spans our judicial system — from her time as a big-city prosecutor and a corporate litigator, to her work as a federal trial judge on the U.S. District Court, and an appellate judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. And then there is Judge Sotomayor’s incredible personal story. She grew up in a housing project in the South Bronx — her parents coming to New York from Puerto Rico during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she lost her father, and her mother worked six days a week just to put food on the table. It takes a certain resilience and determination to rise up out of such circumstances, focus, work hard and achieve the American dream. This character shined through in yesterday’s opening statement: Watch the video. In Judge Sotomayor, our nation will have a Justice who will never forget her humble beginnings, will always apply the rule of law, and will be a protector of the Constitution that made her American dream and the dreams of millions of others possible. As she said so clearly yesterday, Judge Sotomayor’s decisions on the bench “have been made not to serve the interests of any one litigant, but always to serve the larger interest of impartial justice.” In anticipation of today’s first round of questioning, I hope you’ll share this email widely, because Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation is something that affects every American. It’s important for these hearings to be about Judge Sotomayor’s own record and her capacity for the job — not any political back and forth that some in Washington may use to distract you. What members of the Judiciary Committee, and the American people, will see today is a sharp and fearless jurist who does not let powerful interests bully her into breaking from the rule of law. Thank you, Barack Obama

Preparing for H1N1 and the upcoming flu season

J o h n D. B u t l e r
FREELANCE WRITER

Just received this and thought it should be passed along without editing or comment.

As the President’s advisor on Homeland Security, I am passing along the following message from Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, and Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, who are leading the efforts to prepare our Nation for the coming flu season. Fellow Americans, This spring we were confronted with an outbreak of a troubling flu virus called 2009-H1N1. As the fall flu season approaches, it is critical that we reinvigorate our preparedness efforts across the country in order to mitigate the effects of this virus on our communities. Today, we are holding an H1N1 Influenza Preparedness Summit in conjunction with the White House to discuss our Nation’s preparedness. We are working together to monitor the spread of 2009-H1N1 and to prepare to initiate a voluntary fall vaccination program against the 2009-H1N1 flu virus, assuming we have a safe vaccine and do not see changes in the virus that would render the vaccine ineffective. But the most critical steps to mitigating the effects of 2009-H1N1 won’t take place in Washington — they will take place in your homes, schools and community businesses. Taking precautions for this fall’s flu season is a responsibility we all share. Visit Flu.gov to make sure you are ready and learn how you can help promote public awareness. We are making every effort to have a safe and effective vaccine available for distribution as soon as possible, but our current estimate is that it won’t be ready before mid-October. This makes individual prevention even more critical. Wash your hands regularly. Take the necessary precautions to stay healthy and if you do get sick, stay home from work or school. We are doing everything possible to prepare for the fall flu season and encourage all Americans to do the same — this is a shared responsibility and now is the time to prepare. Please visit Flu.gov to learn what steps you can take to prepare and do your part to mitigate the effects of H1N1. Take Care, Kathleen, Janet and Arne The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 • 202-456-1111

JB
John D. Butler
FREELANCE WRITER

T- 619•252•7455 Skype – jbwrites 1220 Rosecrans Street, No. 248 San Diego, California 92106 JBWrites@Me.com http://JBWrites.com