On a bitter and icy day we said good-bye to our nephew Matt.
He passed while attacking winter on his mom’s driveway. He was 51.
In his youth he enjoyed life but had multiple issues with authority. As he aged he matured, got into a long-term relationship and became a dad.
His son preceded him.
Keith developed cancer very, very young. He never got to go to school. Still, he always smiled. Aside from a couple of brief periods when he could play with his cousins and live at home, he lived in hospitals. His care cost millions of dollars. Most was covered by insurance and charity care, or, later, Medicaid but even a small part of the that bill devastated the family finances.
The second casualty: Matt’s relationship with the mother of his son.
Always blessed with a good work ethic, Matt went into “tree work” with a firm contracted to the electric company. That job took him to New York state and other places beset by Mother Nature. Back then the overtime came in buckets.
Alas, that career ended when a running, swinging chainsaw found his upper leg. While surgeries and rehab helped, he never recovered enough to work full time around trees.
He could be exceedingly resourceful. I watched Matt and a friend load a piano onto a small, specialized motorcycle trailer and – successfully – move it across St. Charles. He did odd (and sometimes strange) jobs, almost eking out a living.
In my years with street-level charities I met many blue collar guys with bad luck stories like Matt’s. And, several of them died young too.
Despite what Republicans claim, hard work means little. Luck more than effort lifts some into the middle class or, extremely rarely, into wealth.
(Remember next week, for example, that it was millions of dollars from Donald Trump’s dad that let him become a Manhattan developer and gossip page staple. As the old saying goes, it’s easier to get to Home Plate when you start on Third Base.)
As Elon Musk and those with his scent invade the government expect programs which protect the working class – including Social Security and Medicare – to be targeted for major reductions. Programs such as food stamps and Medicaid and child care support for struggling families? Those of us who follow that work expect those cuts to be more drastic and devastating than Ronald Reagan’s 1981 wrath. (His actions created the need for the pantry association and other groups.)
Plus, keep an eye on Missouri. Even if new Governor Mike Kehoe doesn’t get to kill the state income tax, his actions promise a hard time for the poor. Early word is that education funding won’t grow. Food stamps and Medicaid, assistance to the unemployed and a variety of other necessary things will get slashed. The state will balance its budget with cuts instead of enhancing revenue. Making rich people – or even smokers or beer drinkers – pay a bit more isn’t The Missouri Way.
Matt won’t be forgotten. He is now among friends, others passed on after their short and hard lives.
Glenn