John Is Paying a Dear Price But You Won't Read About It

[FourScore]

Sun Sep 25, 2011 at 06:05 PM PDT
John Is Paying a Dear Price But You Won't Read About It
by nannyboz

My friend John is a nice man, a family man, decent in all the ways that matter. Until 2008 he had a regular job and was let go, the economy weighed in and his job went away. His wife is a medical assistant and son Johnnie a college student. They are the typical, average American family. Close, decent, hard working, bright. It has been tough for them and today it turned horrific.

When John lost his job he and his family dealt with it and felt they were fortunate. You see, John also pastors a rural Methodist church. He isn't an ordained minister, rather one who takes classes and is classified as such qualifying him to be a pastor, but not for a large church, instead for a small rural church in need of a pastor but unable to sustain someone who is ordained. John did both before he lost his job and continued to pastor his church after he lost that job.

John's wife, a choir mate of mine, is a medical assistant and extremely talented musically. She told me he lost the job that paid the bills but that they would be ok. Their son Johnnie is musically talented to the extreme. I don't know of an instrument he doesn't play. He is in college but has been attending for a semester, then home and working for a semester to pay for the next one, music being his major. I have to say, when he is home working we are so lucky to hear him play at church, whether it's the banjo accompanying the praise band, the violin as a solo or playing with the chancel choir. He works a semester, then goes back to college for a semester.

Today John and Johnnie did what dads and sons do, work on their car. Johnnie has an old car and it needed to be tuned up. They can't afford to pay someone to do this so did it themselves, together. In the past they would have taken the car to be serviced but cannot afford that now.

The gas in the tank somehow ignited and John is on his way, by ambulance, to a university hospital a little over two hours from here. His face is burned and he is being taken to the burn unit there. My friend and Johnnie are following the ambulance.

This is but one story that is a direct effect of what the economy in our country means to real life people. You won't see it on CNN or MSNBC. It's a side effect, a thing folks do when they used to hire professionals to do it, a thing they can no longer afford. This car is Johnnie's conduit to home, to local work when he can't attend college for a semester. It's his way to work to earn money for next semester. It's not a luxury, it's old, beat up and in need of repair.

You won't read about John, his accident is a singular thing, not a by-product of an economy and a system gone sour. Except that it is.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/25/1020165/-John-Is-Paying-a-Dear-Price-But-You-Wont-Read-About-It?via=siderec

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. This is horrifying...

I am sick with it.

We are so helpless...

[physioex]

2. I am somewhat of an auto guy.....

And some of the details I don't quite understand. It says they were trying to tune up the car and most fuel injected cars don't need a tune-up. Maybe just a spark plug replacement every three or four years would be sufficient. Also how did the fuel in the gas tank ignite unless they were doing a fuel system repair? Perhaps removing the gas tank or fuel filter? Working on cars can be dangerous but reasonably safe if you follow simple steps like disconnecting the negative battery terminal and not using electric power tools around gasoline.......

[JoeyT]

3. Fuel filter replacement is part of a tune up, isn't it?

I always replaced mine when I did one, since it's fairly easy to get to on most cars.

I think the safety thing was kind of her/his point: People are trying to fix stuff that they really shouldn't be messing with because they can't afford to hire someone that knows how to do it safely. Stuff that seems common sense to people that know how it works never occurs to people that don't. For example, you wouldn't believe some of the stuff people get up to in breaker boxes that would scare the life out of any electrician.

[The Traveler]

4. Exactly

I'm a gearhead ... there are a great many ways the inexperienced shade tree mechanic can kill themselves. For example, before changing that fuel filter, did they relieve pressure on the system? Did they disconnect the negative battery terminal? And if you are not experienced with these things, would you think to do that? Did they even have the extra cash to throw down for a Haynes manual?

This sort of thing is what happens to real people ...

[physioex]

7. Yes that would be a big one.....

Relieving the fuel pressure, by removing the relay and battery. Although I have been guilty of chaninging fuel filters without following the rules......

[Ilsa]

5. This is so sad. I hope he recovers.

Burns to the face can be so dangerous.

[drm604]

6. I hope they have medical coverage.

This is tragic.