[TJ95GAGT]

This whole striking, standard of living decreasing non sense is getting old. My family consists of 6 people, 2 parents, 4kids. When I was 12 -13yrs old, about 12yrs ago, this is the scenario my parents faced:
February: bought thier first home after living with my grandparents for 8yrs.
March: Mom writes first mortgage payment, later that day my dad comes home with no job. Have little savings due to Februaries purchase of said home. He was making $19/hr at a nonunion dupont print site. He went to work FT at his PT job he had been carrying at $15/hr. My mom worked her $8/hr PT job in the evenings so there was no childcare expense, my brothers are 8 and 10yrs younger than I. This goes on for a year or two. Dad goes back to old job under a new company but alot of the same management. He works for a couple years and the site is closed for good.

After that he's on unemployment while at the skills center learning a trade, pipefitting. They supported our family on my dads $10/hr job he landed after the skills center and my moms $8/hr PT job in an area that wasn't a low cost of living area. After 6yrs Dad is making more than he ever would at the print site at the same company that started him at $10/hr. There was no expensive vacations, dad had an mid 90's Toyota pick up and mom drove a 92 Astro van until 2005. They didn't pay for my college, we didn't have 100 channels on the TV.

Bottom line is ***** happens, gotta find a way to get through it. I hope these guys striking has to go through what my parents did, its a real eye opener thats for sure. Got me working at a young age and taught me some real life lessons thats for sure. I probably learned more from them in that time that will carry me through life than the 5yrs I spent in college and for that I'm grateful.