At my age of 76 years, I am 4 years past the mid-point of the 12-year cycle. Taoist beliefs contend that 12-year cycle points in life are marked by unsettled conditions and turbulence. Looking back, I can see a correlation between events in my life, and those 12-year cycles. So September 2016, when I am 84 will be something to remember (or forget).

I was born in 1932, when the US was entering a period of depression. My parents were young. My father was just 20, and my mother was 17, barely out of high school. Of course I was just a happy baby, blissfully ignorant. But I soon grew old enough to realize that we were poor.

My father was one of the lucky ones. He had a job driving a delivery truck for a publishing company. American News Company. He made $10 a week. Imagine a yearly income of $520. Pretty tough by today's standards, but wonderful in 1934. I remember people coming to the door asking for food. My mother always made them go to the back door, where she would give them whatever we had. I was aware of this, but frankly did not think much about it. That was the way things were, right?

I remember eating a lot of potato soup, and not much else. I hate potato soup to this very day. Living in Little Rock Arkansas, a major rice producing area of the US at the time, we had cheap rice, and I think that is when I became a rice eater. Today, I eat rice at least twice a day.

I was pretty small, but my father and I often went fishing in the streams for crappie and blue gill. It was food, and it did not cost anything, and it was a blissfully happy time for a young boy. He went frog gigging at night, but would not take me with him. I always helped him clean the big bull frogs. We ate frog legs, my mom shrieking as they jumped around in the frying pan. We survived, and I remained a happy child.

The last time I was in the US was August 2007, in the Seattle area (Microsoft). Things were still OK, though teetering on the edge of disaster, with most people unaware of the impending crisis. I felt like a hill billy, parking at the supermarket between BMWs, Porches, and Lexus SUVs. Even a Cadillac pickup. Everyone was spending like crazy, including me. Maxing out their credit cards, let it all hang out. My excuse was a long absence from the US, pent up demand, etc. So in a month I went through about $15k. What the hell.

Now the inevitable has come to pass. The chickens have come home to roost. It's all over.

So the question is... I was born in a depression. Will I die in one? I certainly hope not, and will not be a willing participant in that idea.

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