"Shared sacrifice"

Each time the President mentions "shared sacrifice," I grow more annoyed. I have lived my entire life on the cusp of poverty, and, in fact, since my "retirement," I have dipped down into that abyss.

As a public school teacher, my life included perpetual sacrifice. I can only remember two times when I owned something that was an overpriced and/or unnecessary extravagance, and one of those was a gift.

One Christmas in my youth, my parents bought me one of the first ballpoint pens. It was made of aluminum and was larger than any pen before or since. They invested $10-20 on a novelty which, except for socks and underwear, was probably my chief holiday present.

Later, before I was married, I squandered $50 on one of the first calculators. . . of the kind that, today, businesses and charities give away free to encourage our interest in their enterprises. It no longer works.

Otherwise, I don't remember buying anything that wasn't on sale and/or absolutely essential, like food, clothing, shelter and transportation. If I did spend some money on entertainment [be it records, tapes, CDs, movies or travel], my children might tell you it was probably because I fed them powdered milk and an ocean of beans and weinies. Thank goodness many parks and scenic attractions are free, or our sacrifice may have been interpreted as torture. We are not prepared to share any further forbearance with anyone else, especially the government.