SALVAGING LIFE

PUTTING LIFE TOGETHER AFTER A STEEP FALL can be undaunting. What to reassemble with is the major and most pertinent challenge. With every important thing torn out from foundation level there is nothing, perhaps, other than a belief, and belief systems come rather cheap now days. What was bred into us from our youth becomes shattered by forced idiom of others pushing their agenda which we need and therefore must adhere to. So many fall from the tightrope of this regime that it seems half the world's population is homeless now or headed there. To recover from having slipped beneath the table where dogs are known to snip and snarl for scraps thrown to them it takes the development of discretion and diplomacy. A bitten tongue now and then can't hurt either. Does it take one too far to see what he once saw as humor on the back of another set upon his own lap and the backs of his family?

While some believe themselves to be beyond reproach, deserving of all things free of effort with no cause for self validation, a mirror cast before his face would surely show his or their own defective existence. Could they survive? ...or better yet, could they rise again? Nations have been put to the same test. Some take flight on their own merit while others latch into another well off entity and bite deep to appear connected. Can they breathe their own breath? Can they hold their own or will every faction of their prey fall under the heavy weight they cast?

One most basic restart operation is as a farmer with the second most basic being one who sells what another has to offer. Sowing seed in the soil beneath your feet may, depending upon the environment you settled in to, provide enough to hold your own while bringing in enough to get a running start; then swing to a next largest vine. On the other hand, nothing of foundation to start with, being a salesman requires nothing more than brevity in proffering what you know someone else needs to get rid of. The alternate action of that "career" is performance as a "locator." One has to be diligent in finding those who want or need and getting something needed to someone who wants it. Both similar to what a realtor does in that no inventory on hold is required. One step further is the warehouser, holding inventory to be dispersed to a waiting client for distribution to consumers. I was to be that for a local popular vendor of wines. My product? ...Mediterranean wines and liquors for end purchasers with competitive/speculating taste. My error? ...establishing the documentation for all said before starting the business connection in transit. While waiting for state documentation and location approval the importer experienced devastating tragedies stemming from the California wildfires and personal assault leaving my client waiting for the fruits of my sale. I pitched a winning proposal and the vendor died. He no longer had representation of the major market he had represented for over 10 to 15 years.

Meanwhile, product from the region I intended to market (for personal reasons) fell under attack by unfriendlies rendering many of the producers under a swale for ruined crops and damages to their structures resulting in a potential "farm flight" situation. I was beginning to feel as if I were the monster in the mist. I stopped all efforts of trying on that cause after chateau management declared they would personally relocate and teach their vineyard business process to interested respondents. I responded in the name of my late husband and his family, to do their business honor. I lost out on a farm bid and the vines started in my own small landspot were demolished with herbicides. When the last vine was ravaged by flies I quit.

Finding the bricks from the yellow road... Quitters never win.