I turn 70 in just over a month. For the most part—my life has been blessed. A great wife and two outstanding children stand tall around me. My parents did their best to make sure my brother and I had a roof over our heads, clothes to wear, and food to eat. Joleen and I did the same with our two.
My father was a firm believer that if you wanted something bad enough, you had to earn it. Free handouts weren’t part of his chemistry. I believe the same, yet prayer goes first before anything. Some things I want, yet do not need. Prayer helps discern between the two.
I’ve been told over the years by various people, “Choose your battles.” That’s one life lesson I don’t always adhere to. Like my dad, I’ve engaged in battles that I believed couldn’t be won, yet entered them anyway just because they needed fought. One of those involved a traffic ticket. I could’ve just paid it like so many others, yet this particular speeding ticket wasn’t my fault.
I was passing a cement mixer that was dropping rocks on the road. One of them had bounced up beforehand cratering the windshield of my vehicle. I tried explaining this to the cop to no avail. In court, I did the same to the judge, and he asked the officer to see a video taken from his patrol car camera.
It clearly showed what I had told the policeman. A cement mixer was directly in front of me, and other vehicles zoomed around it to avoid the debris. I merely followed them. Even though I was legitimately speeding, this judge sided with me and dismissed the case.
Co-workers had told me I’d never beat this ticket and I proved them wrong. Even had I lost, plans were whirling around in my head to appeal, and take things to the very top, or to the limit as I call it. A favorite Bible story of mine is David vs Goliath so perhaps that has something to do with it.
I could tell story after story regarding this subject, because there have been battles throughout my life. I doubt I’m the only one having fought them, because some family and friends were involved in some horrific skirmishes unlike mine.
There’s always a loser in a battle and I have no problem coming out on the short end of the stick. A battle is much like fishing. I’ve been fishing many times and not brought home a single salmon or halibut, yet that didn’t stop me from going again.
A few weeks back, my wife and I decided to use a $50 gift certificate our children gave us 11 years prior to Cracker Barrel. It sat in a drawer all that time. We weren’t worried because there was no expiration date on it.
After eating that day, I went to pay and the clerk said that our e-certificate couldn’t be used because it needed a PIN number. Evidently, in the 11 years since issue, their policy had changed. We had no PIN because none had been required back then.
The assistant manager came up and said it was my job to get hold of Cracker Barrel management to plead the case. I didn’t argue the fact, knowing that she was wrong, yet politely pulled my credit card out and paid the bill.
For several days my wife tried calling Cracker Barrel customer relations with no luck. She eventually left a respectful verbal message explaining everything, and after a week, still no reply. I then went online, finding a site where I could leave an email message along with a photo of the e-certificate.
Time went on and no response came from either means of communication. I mentioned to my son about what was happening, and he told me good luck. A simple inquiry Gunnar had with the company regarding an awards program took over a month to get an answer.
Late one evening, I drew up a letter to the CEO and president of the company, Julie Masino, and sent it off certified mail. The same day that she received it, I got a notice through e-mail explaining that they would take care of the unfortunate situation.
I wrote back thanking her, grateful that she took full responsibility for the problem which was theirs to begin with—not mine. Successful companies do such. It’s still unfortunate that I had to reach so high to solve a simple problem.
Telling my wife this, she asked, “What would I have done had they refused?” I told her that would’ve left me no other option than to seek legal help. “Is that expense worth chasing $50?,” Joleen inquired in a puzzled tone.
I told her probably not, but at this stage of my life I have nothing to lose but money in trying, and I won’t be taking any of that with me when I leave.
“Principle is priceless!” were my last words on the subject.
I suppose there will be other battles coming my direction. Right now, the biggest challenge it seems is fighting charges on medical bills. Countless time we’ve been billed, when in fact, Medicare and our supplemental insurance (Aetna) paid for the services.
Joleen and I have talked to some senior friends incurring the same. Rather than go through the hassle of entering a battle to fight the overage, they caved and just paid. Although it took lots of time, patience, and phone calls on our part, we’ve always came out the winner on these grievances.
One of my favorite songs is by the Eagles. The name of this tune is, “Take It To The Limit.” A short set of lyrics best sums up how I look at life battles—
“Take it to the limit, one more time.”
It appears I’ll be following the Eagle’s suggestion until the day I die.
I like to write junk... 