It is heartbreaking to hear and read about the many thousands of people still losing their homes in this plunging economy. I know some people got themselves into homes they couldn't afford in the first place and perhaps they didn't understand increasing ARM rates or balloon payments. Nevertheless their applications were accepted and they probably did not receive the best explanation, if any, of their terms. Being told to read 12 or 57 documents carefully does not constitute an explanation!

However, most people now facing foreclosure made a considered decision at the time of buying their property and genuinely felt they had the necessary income to be responsible citizens. Unfortunately, life's situations change as they always have, and with no margin fund set aside for emergencies, we can all find ourselves slamming into that foreclosure/bankruptcy brick wall "in short order," as they used to say. Vicious illness strikes, jobs go overseas, religious-political wars claim far too many victims as they always have, and gang violence continues its arrogant, mindless butchery at home.

Hundreds of thousands of people have worked themselves into the ground in an honest attempt to pay their obligations. They have sacrificed all entertainment and travel, rarely bought clothes from thrift shops, let alone new clothes, and often worked two jobs until they found themselves without work at all. Add tragedy to the mixture and there can be few places to turn.

It is particularly painful when friends lose their homes and you know the misery they have already been through in an effort to survive. And at the front of your mind -- not the back -- is the knowledge that "There but for the Grace of God go I."  And any day, you could be following in their footsteps. Most of us are one step away from similar disaster, and it isn't because we've loafed around for 40 years, as many have done and got away with it. We have not lived out of someone else's pocket when we were able to work. God bless those whose disabilities prevent them from taking care of themselves. But a pox on the lazy. And let's all pray for jobs to open up for everyone who wants one. They and we deserve that much.