I have always been reluctant to ask for help. As I grew up, I learned - from various sources, not the least of which were my high school "friends" - that asking for help was tantamount to failure as a human being, that worthwhile people didn't need help. I should be able to stand on my own, and if I fall, I should never, ever ask for a hand up.

These days, though, I am beginning to wonder about that. We are social creatures, we humans; we are born with the capacity for compassion and the drive to succeed and to see the people around us succeed. And we are weak: while strength and self-reliance are often our goals, we are certainly not born that way.

So today, I am throwing the doors open and asking for help. This morning I was served with a bill that I hadn't expected to have to pay for several more months, and that I am entirely unprepared to deal with. I am being asked for $3,000 by the end of the month; if I do not pay, I will be asked to abandon my home. This is a bill I cop to; I've been fighting a holding battle for months, but in the end this is entirely my fault and I accept the responsibility. But I need your help to fulfill that responsibility.

I certainly am not asking anyone to foot the entire $3,000, and I am looking into other ways to pay the bill. I do appreciate any help you can render, however. In addition, I've included a note field with the PayPal donation button below. I encourage you to use that note field to tell me what you'd like to see in return. I will do my best to fulfill any and all (reasonable!) requests.

Thank you for reading this far. I hope you'll be able and willing to help me out. If you have any questions or comments, you can reach me at etherjammer@gmail.com.