I received a bill today for a fine from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The fines total more than $5,000 and it may as well be $5 million. I can’t pay these fines and my creditors. I should be beside myself in stress, but I’m not.
As a small business owner I have learned some pretty important lessons. I have learned to keep a enough food in the pantry to last a month or two without trips to the grocery. I have learned to keep an alternate form of heat and light for the winter if the power goes out. I have learned to survive when the light at the end of the tunnel looks like a memory.
The TCEQ sent a nice big package. It must be 30 or 40 pages of crap telling me about how they are fining me to protect the drinking water supply that I and my customers already drank over 18 months ago. It is upsetting, but it is not an all-consuming financial crisis.
Experience has taught me that there is always some new major financial problem looming just over the horizon. None times out of ten that crisis was created by some well-meaning asshole who thought he was so right that everyone who disagreed with him should be thrown in jail.
As soon as I clear this financial hurdle another will pop up. It’s not the end of the world and I will survive. I know that in some future time I will look back and tell the tale of my heroic struggle against Leviathan. I know it because it has happened before and I am confident it will happen again.
So, if you find yourself in a similar situation where the wolves are barking at the door and all hope seems lost. Cheer up! Every silver lining has a dark cloud. Living through the darkest clouds gives you great stories and prepares you for the next great crisis.
In a previous life I played the part of an employee. I was safe ensconced in my little employed world with its safety nets and its security. When I came to the New World (the business owner world) I had to learn a whole new set of financial tools. Thinking about it now, I think it’s those skills which comfort me most at these dismal times. I have faced the fire in the past and I am confident that I can face the future fires as well.
I have no idea where I am going to come up with the resources Leviathan wants to justify their ill-gotten unethical jobs, but I know I will prevail and succeed where they fail and crumble. I’ll be here tomorrow. My existence is not contingent on the whims of political power. I can survive any where. It’s just who I am.
