A serving of humble pie

(Updated: Thursday, February 11, 2010, 2:23 PM)

I need to check the record books, but I think my political career could be the shortest in Madera County history. Bottom line, I bit of more than I could chew.

I knew with the damage to my heart I had limitations. I guess the 20 point bump in my blood pressure and chest pain the other night helped with my decision not to run.

After 30 years as a firefighter I fall back on fire metaphors a lot, and here goes another one. The first thing you do with a fire is size it up. You evaluate the task before you and your resources at hand. Then you draw your box.

Your box is a picture in your mind of how much the fire will consume before you, with what you have to work with, can get it under control. I not only underestimated the task, but compounded the problem by overestimating the abilities of my resources -- my body. It is truly a bitter pill to swallow when we must face out limitations. We all have them. We are not invincible. You can't climb two flights of stairs with out a rest, that's a bit harder to swallow.

Getting back to my metaphor. When you discover you can't keep the fire in the box because your next two engines due to arrive were just diverted to a new fire. You don't just sit down and cry about it. You reevaluate and move on.

One silver lining has already appeared. There was a glitch in the system. My street address on Savage Road has been in District 5 for at least 30 years, but apparently after the last census, or possibly the one before that, it was legally moved to District 1, but not changed in the official records. Oh well stuff happens. My solution was to move to an address in District 5.

The fire is under control and it is time for salvage, mop up and overhaul. And possibly a few more metaphors. Don't cry over spilt milk. Get back on the Horse. My favorite, from Shawshank -- Get on with living or get on with dieing. I choose living.

We are facing some big problems in Madera County and the rest of our country as well. We have gotten ourselves in debt way over our heads and the solutions by our government is a bit like spending what we have left in the bank, on lottery tickets.

When I was 20 years old, I was in way over my head. My dad told me to make a budget and stick to it. "If you don't have it you don't spend it. What do you want? More food and a roof over your head or a new car?"

Our government has discovered credit cards and chosen shiny new cars. As we enter this campaign season do yourself a favor. When you hear the campaign promises about how they are going to make life wonderful again, ask them for details. Make them explain the details. What are the odds of hitting the lottery so your plan will work?

I listened to the president's state of the union speech. It was wonderful and up lifting. Too bad we all can't just win the lottery so his ideas will work. I'm not a sunshine and roses kind of guy. The speech you will not hear because I am not running is: "There are no magic bullets, or easy ways out of this mess. The only real choice we have is cut up the credit card, roll up our sleeves and get to work."