As we go through life many of us experience problems, or should I say we all do at one time or another. Some problems are easy to solve, but others can get quite complicated. Some problems when looked back on make us realize compared to the problems others have were really not much of a problem after all. As humans we tend to see some problems as being enormous, yet when compared to someone else’s problems they may seem minuscule. An example of this is the time I received a second medical bill for the same service. I tried to get through to the provider but nobody answered any of the three extensions listed on the bill, instead I received a voice message telling me to state my problem and it would be recorded and a call returned to me. The call was never returned and I was getting quite annoyed and then I read a story about a man who had a very sick wife. She had cancer and he lost his medical coverage, because he lost his job. This made me realize what I thought was a big problem was just an annoyance and I took the bill wrote on it that I already paid it, made a copy of my receipt, put it in an envelope and mailed it back to the provider and the problem was taken care of.

Sometimes when we think something is broken and believe we have to buy another device to replace it, we are wrong. Some people were complaining they had a tablet by a certain manufacturer which could no longer charge. A tablet which can no longer charge is nothing more than a paperweight. I noticed these people were leaving messages all over technology message boards and asking if there was any type of solution. They knew their charges were working, because they tried them on other devices so it had to be the tablets themselves. This is a problem I also experienced. I also went to one of the message boards to see if there was a solution and as fate would have it, it was the same solution I used thirty years ago on game cartridges. When game cartridges didn’t work, sometimes you could blow into them and for some strange reason they would work again. I don’t know if the moisture in your breath helped to make contact or dust was blown out of them which interfered, but whatever the reason was, miraculously it would work again. It turned out the same was true for the tablet. The solution was to blow into the connection area and then plug-in the charger. I did it and it worked perfectly.

Sometimes we think we have a crisis, but then things just seem to work out. One has to wonder if this involves divine intervention or not. One case involved a person who was a ninety-five-year-old mother who kept falling out of bed even though bed guards had been installed. She would sit on the edge, fall asleep, fall on the floor and then deny she was ever sitting on the edge of the bed. Clearly this person had to go into a nursing home or she would kill herself. It was a problem and it had to do with finances and it looked like she would never be able to get on to Medicaid and that was the only way this person could get her into the nursing home since it was so expensive. Miraculously things worked out and after his mother begged him not to go, she accepted the fact she needed to go and she’s quite happy with the fact that he visits her at least three times a week. It never looked like this was going to work out, not only because of finances, but because of the mother’s resistance.

I knew somebody who belonged to a union which used to allow free medical tests once a year. These tests were quite comprehensive and more full-body. Many of the employees would take advantage of them, because if they did it on their own it would cost a few hundred dollars. One day this man went and got the full battery of tests and patiently waited for the results. When the results came he was told he had a terrible disease. He was very upset and started to call different doctors to make appointments to see what they could do for him. Just as he was at wits end he got a second call from the testing facility’s doctor who told him they had given him someone else’s results in error and he was fine. All of a sudden his major problem and disappeared. One has to wonder how a medical institution could be so careless with results of tests, because in this case these results belonged to a woman who was not even of the same race. All of a sudden she had the problem which is very sad.

There are many people out there who had one of the worst financial problems of all and that is identity theft. One of the problems some of these people have experienced is the loss of their homes due not only to identity theft but also mortgage fraud. Criminals have gotten hold of their personal information and created false IDs, including Social Security cards and other documents. Next these criminals fill our property transfer forms and forge your signature to them and they file the deeds and now the house is theirs to sell or whatever. This is quite a problem. Criminals have been known to take out large mortgages on homes they didn’t own and owners never realize it and eventually lose their homes. This is a terrible problem, because it is not easy to guard against. The authorities recommend if you receive a payment book from a mortgage company even though your name is not on it, never throw it away and follow up with the company that sent it. They also say you should check your information on your home with the proper authorities from time to time to make sure nothing has been added. One real estate agent in California managed the mortgage a hundred homes which belonged to other people and steal mortgage money. The owners never knew and lost their homes and the bank lost the money.

The thing with problems is we should never let them grow in our mind. We may think we have a huge problem, because we tend to make things seem more serious than they are. Most of the problems we face should probably be classified as annoyances rather than problems. I think most of us are the same way, but many of us mature over the years and begin to realize the only serious problems have to do with feeding ourselves, getting shelter and keeping ourselves healthy. Everything else is not as serious as we think and many times these things will work themselves out. Life is too short to worry about every little thing. We have all seen people get angry over things such as sports and when you think about it, it really makes no sense. There was a guy in my former bowling league who used to get so angry when he didn’t do well he would throw the ball against the wall and kick the ball return. This is certainly not the way to live.