It's Not Just Me

Saturday September 13th, 2008 - Trevor, WI

I’m not the only one having problems figuring out the insanity of the world apparently. I went up to Trevor, WI tonight to a place called Michael’s Pub which does comedy shows once a month to visit my friend Mark Shilobrit. Mark and I go back twenty-five years but I hadn’t seen him in a while. His whole world is crumbling in and I was sorry to hear that.

Mark is absolutely without a doubt THE hardest working guy I can think of. He is a few years older than me but we go back so far I feel like I’ve known him all my life. He isn’t a great comedian but that’s ok. Very few are. He does have a great work ethic though and it has been there as long as I’ve known him. He busted his ass and then some to make a life.

He is a licensed meteorologist and that’s no easy task in itself but he’s a licensed airline pilot too. He has always been going to school in some form or another and he invested his comedy money over the years into furthering his education. He had a very smart life plan.

The bad part is it all blew up in his face as he got let go by his airline after clawing up a huge mountain to get there. Through no fault of his own he is now on the street and has a new house to pay for that he may lose. His wife also lost her job and the worst possibility has come through for both of them. I was really sorry to hear of it and we talked about it.

He has always said he admired how I stuck with comedy and didn’t give up even if my whole world blew up and many times it did. Now his is in shambles and we both couldn’t figure out what the secret path to success really is. We both took different paths and we’re much in the same place so what IS the right way to do it? Neither of us could answer that.

Mark brought his friend Mike out who’s also a very sharp guy. He’s 48 and never been married and we hit it off right away. Mike is a licensed attorney in addition to also being a pilot and he got laid off too. He joined us after the show and we all were whining about life but at least we all could feel each other’s pain. We worked our asses off but for what?

The world seems to be getting more and more insane by the minute. The people that get that seem to be losing faith like I am but I wonder if it’s just happening now or if it’s been like that the whole time and we’re just now getting old enough to grasp it? I don’t know.

A lot of people are really hurting right now in America. We are far from being what we once were and it doesn’t look like we’ll ever get that back. I am sickened by what I see on every newscast and I don’t even want to watch those anymore. Am I turning into what my grandparents were or am I smartening up? I sure don’t see things getting any better soon.

Do you? I wish I had hope that this was just a little slump but I highly doubt it. There is a big feeling of disappointment and disillusionment taking over the middle class and it’s a very ominous feeling. Jokes are nice but they can only divert the pain for a little while. To say nothing is wrong is just plain stupid. It IS wrong but who’s going to fix it? Neither of the political parties will be able to do it. It’s going to take a major effort from all of us.