Subscribe Today!
Digital E-Star StarAdvantage










Opinion > As I See It

As I See It  

Posted on Sat, Sep. 27, 2008 10:15 PM

AS I SEE IT

Story behind repossessed car could be any of ours

To the Iowa family who recently lost the silver Pontiac Grand Am with the small crack in the bumper, we have your car.

No, we didn’t steal it. We recently bought it after it was repossessed.

We couldn’t really afford it. My wife and I are teachers, and our daughter goes to school at William Jewell College.

She needs a car, because even though she has great scholarships, she had to take an off-campus job to help pay expenses.

Even though we are struggling to make the bills, we have not had to face what you’ve been going through. We’re sorry.

You can tell a lot from the condition of a person’s car.

The shape of the Pontiac when we got it tells me you are good people. Except for the Happy Meal toy stuck in the back seat, the car was clean and, with the exception of the bumper, completely undamaged.

You seem to be a family that plays by the rules. But the rules keep changing, don’t they?

Maybe your child got sick and you had to use the car payments to cover the doctor bills.

Maybe mom was laid off when the factory outsourced her job to China. Maybe dad couldn’t keep up with the payments because he was sent back to Iraq for yet another tour with the National Guard.

Maybe keeping your home or keeping food on the table became more important than keeping your car.

Whatever the problems, you are not alone.

More of us are facing the same kind of struggles every day.

I understand my words are cold comfort for you. I just wanted you to know that most of us out here aren’t too far away from where you’ve been.

We don’t know you, but we will hold you in our prayers. It is our hope that soon you will get the change you need.

By the way, don’t worry about that crack in the bumper.

We covered it with an Obama sticker. It was the least we could do.

Brett Miller is a communications professor. He lives in Springfield.

 

Join the discussion


Share your observations and experiences about news. Lively, open debate is the goal, but please refrain from personal attacks or comments that are racist, vulgar or otherwise inappropriate. If you see an inappropriate comment, please click the "Report as violation" link to notify a KansasCity.com editor. Thanks for your feedback.

Subscribe today!