Life's Like That

Bail Out

by Jerry Bullock

Words seem to change their meaning over the years. A good example is “bail out.” I first heard the term when I was about 14 and went fishing on Grand Lake in Oklahoma with my drinking Uncle Roy. In the boat with me were another older teen and my uncle who was rowing and singing lustily. I had suggested we not go because of a thunderstorm very evident in the near western sky. But nothing would do but push off on this voyage of adventure. Sure enough, by the time we were 100 yards from shore the storm broke. The rain was full and blowing, the lightning was playing over the lake and then with a roar hail was added to the mix. Large hail, golf ball- and hen egg-size hail. Uncle Roy had reversed the oars and was rowing madly for shore, yelling at us to take the coffee cans and “bail out.”

Later in my career I was aboard a military aircraft in the days when all flyers in Air Force aircraft were equipped with parachutes. We had the safety briefing and were settled, as well as one can be settled sitting in strap seats along the side of the airplane. A few minutes later the command pilot got on board and announced that he knew we had been briefed but he wanted to make it clear that if it became necessary to evacuate the airplane we were to move swiftly to the exit door and bail out on the signal. To make his point he said regulations required that the aircraft commander be the last to depart the airplane. Therefore, he said, “If you are standing at the exit door and see someone rush past you wearing an orange flight suit … you have just become the aircraft commander.” You better bail out.

Another source defines “bail out” as money paid to secure the release of a prisoner from jail. Essentially it is a monetary bond securing the promise of the prisoner to be available for his or her day in court. Too often we see the headline, “Killer released on bail,” another bail out.

Now we find that “bail out” means the government throwing billions of dollars to put the nation on welfare. The president says we must do this because he was elected to bring change. It seems to me that 600 to 800 billion is a lot of change. I guess I shouldn't care; it isn't my money that is being spent. Actually it is money that does not exist. I wish I could do that … just go write a check and buy a new car. It is crazy.

A couple of millennia ago twelve guys in a boat on the Sea of Galilee found themselves in the middle of a raging storm. The little boat was swept by wind and rain. They understood bail out and were becoming exhausted trying to save their little craft. A thirteenth man slept soundly in the stern of the boat. He was their leader,. How could he sleep so soundly? One of the seamen ran and woke the sleeping man. “Lord,” he said, “we are all about to die; we can't bail out fast enough to save the ship.”

“Oh, ye of little faith” their leader said and quieted the storm. America today is facing a moral question more than a financial issue. Billions of dollars will do little to change hearts. History shows that much of the money the government passes out ends up in bureaucratic pockets. Until hearts are changed money is not the salve for an ailing economy