‘Invisible Woman’ Brought Troubles on Herself

The piece by “Diane” on “The Invisible Woman” (Nov. 10) disturbed me. At first I thought maybe something similar could happen to me at some point. But the more I thought about Diane and her story, the more I realized that she brought most of her troubles on herself.

There were only two events in her story that she was unable to prevent: her mother’s death and her father developing Alzheimer’s disease. As far as being unemployed, she voluntarily quit two jobs.

Diane claimed that some of us are “dancing on the same tightrope over the same abyss into which I have fallen.” Not me, sister. For one thing, I won’t quit my job, especially knowing I have no financial safety net. Also, if a member of my family reaches out to help me when I’m down, I humble myself and accept it gratefully, knowing I would do the very same for them if I could.

I suppose this article was supposed to be a comment on current hard times. And maybe it was supposed to make me feel sorry for Diane. I do feel bad that she got herself into such a tough situation. But I think her particular story is the result of misplaced pride and bad decisions, rather than a bad economy.

I wonder about the other people she mentioned in her story: the lady looking for change in the pay telephones and the old man fishing through the garbage can she threw her scraps in. I wish I could know about their situations. Now when I park my car at the mall or the grocery store, I’ll look at the people around me with less indifference and more compassion.

NANCY STUBBS

Redlands