MY FIRST FINANCIAL REALITY CHECK.

As far as I'm aware, debt is the biggest crisis this world faces today. Governments, increasingly influenced by Marxist notions of redistribution, recklessly tax and borrow to finance activities once performed by hard-working charities. The bigger the bureaucracies of the nations have grown, the more dependent citizens have become on government largesse.

The concept of prudently spending finite funds is opaque to socialist rulers but I had no choice but to learn it. From Deliverance From Jericho (Six Years in a Blind School), here is how I found out that there really is no free lunch or treats for that matter.

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During that autumn, I learned the hard way that life did not owe me a living. The weekend supervisor, a loud-voiced, heavy set, middle-aged, authoritarian whom I shall call Mr. Moiarty, took us to the beach one November afternoon. We walked along a road, which ran parallel to the ocean, for a few hours. We finally stopped at a kiosk selling candy and chips.

"Could you buy me one of these?" I asked our supervisor and pointed at the chocolate bars.

"Use your own money; I'm not your dad. This isn't the little kids dorm. You're supposed to buy your own candy. You can't expect people to always buy everything for you, you know," he chided. Mr. Moiarty's rebuke stung. I foolishly hoped some measure of grace would be extended to us and we could have a few more treats than usual but I realized then that I must make do with my allowance and could not expect help from others.

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Deliverance from Jericho contains many more vignettes of what life was like in that government-run institution. These range from poignant experiences of homesickness to hilarious incidents of mischief. Click here to read more about this book and to order it. You may also e-mail me directly for more information.