THE MAN IN THE MIRROR

"If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change."
-Michael Jackson

Before I married my wife, we attended premarital counseling with our pastor. Something he told us has been forefront in my thoughts lately. My wife and I have been bickering and fighting over petty stuff lately. Most of the time I'm thinking, "why are we fighting about this?" In the midst of one of our disputes I heard my pastor's words ringing in my head. "Marriage isn't a 50 /50 proposition. It's a 100 / 100 proposition." In other words, you don't say, I'll meet you half way, because you always think you are the one giving 51% while your spouse is the one giving 49%. You have to have the mind-set that I'm going to give my spouse 100% all the time. We haven't been doing that. We instead are pointing fingers saying "I'm giving my 51%!". The truth is neither of us is giving our 51% or even our 49%. I dare not say what I think the percentage might actually be.

I need to look at the 'Man in the Mirror" and make my world a better place. I need to give my family my 100% (or as close as humanly possible) and hope and pray they follow suit in giving their 100%. I'm the head of my house and I'm supposed to lead. There is no better way to lead than by example.

So what am I waiting for? Hmmmmm... Selfishness I guess. I never knew how selfish I was until I got married.

I used to always tell people, "If you want to see yourself, don't look inward but for the reflection in the people who surround you, for in that reflection we see ourselves." That proverbial mirror is scary to look at, but I think I'm looking at it. Now the question is, am I going to "make a change"?

Some may say, "if you TRULY love your family, you will make a change." As if somehow my failures as a husband and father lessen my love. If love was all it took, I'd have this game won. It just seems that at times my selfishness overwhelms my love. I've been with Patty for almost 4 years and I still can't lose my bachelor mentality.

Well, Lord willing, I will change the man in the mirror and my family will prosper because of it.

They are all SWINDLERS

My baby (My Mustang) was impounded last Saturday. I was unable to get to the towing yard until Monday evening. By this time the fees were at $300. I don't know about you, but I don't have $300 laying around. I told them I wouldn't get paid till Friday. They told me by then the fees would be up to $500. I tried to get them to negotiate to release my car with a partial payment today, and a final payment on Friday. Of course they wouldn't even consider it.

So I buried my pride and asked a friend if I could borrow the money. So today I showed up with $330 borrowed dollars (they told me there would be a $30/day storage charge). They tell me the total is $390. WHAT???? $390??? Where did the extra $60 bucks come from? "Well sir, we are required by law to charge you a $60 licencse fee?" And you couldn't have told me this yesterday when I was here inquiring as too how much it would cost. "You didn't ask!"

I was angry by this point. They had shown me nothing but disrespect from the moment I arrived the day prior and now they wanted even more money on top of that. Well, after much debate and much chastising of their bad business practices, they agreed to accept the $370 I had (I had a little of my own money).

While they did their paperwork behind their safety glass (wonder why such a wonderful establishment would need safety glass?) I could here such wonderful under their breath comments like "I'll help you out as soon as I'm done with this A#@HOLE!".

They give me the release form and after reading I decide to follow the advice of the disclaimer at the bottom and asked to see my car and verify it isn't damaged before I signed the release. Exasperation and snide comments flowed like water as they reluctantly had one of their drivers escort me to my car so I could inspect it.

What do I find but my drivers side wheel turned almost 90 degrees out while my passenger side wheel is straight. "How am I supposed to drive my car out of here when ya'll have broken my steering rod?" So they take me to the driver who towed my car and he swears he found it that way. They even have a document signed by a police officer that says she verifies it was found that way. Yet they wouldn't let me have a copy of this document or even let me know the officers name.

I find it extremely hard to believe that a 3/4" steel rod mysteriously snapped all by itself. Especially since my Dad just drove it down from Fresno (about 250 miles) and I have driven it a few times since then and neither of us noticed any indication of a steering problem. But THEY FOUND IT THAT WAY!

I give credit to the driver who delivered my car to my home. He went out of his way to help me steer the broken wheel and park my car. As for the rest of the establishment, I wouldn't feel too bad if someone accidently torched the place.

Well, I'm off to find a way to vent off some of my anger and frustration. Hopefully I don't break anything vital.