Originally published in the Grand Rapids Business Journal, April 11, 2005.

Some of my favorite stories are ones I only partially remember. They were either told to me a long time ago or in haste and so the details have either faded or were never quite there. The advantage of these is that you don't get caught up in the circumstances of how the story was told or who told it to you or even the actual point of it -- instead, you can adapt it to fit your need for it.

For instance, when I hear the term "belt-tightening" I usually think of a great-great or great-great-great Grandmother on my Auchter side. I'm not sure exactly who it was or who told me this, but apparently my severely German-Catholic ancestor used to wear a belt with a series of knots in it. Whenever she had an illicit thought or committed a bad deed, she would pull the belt one notch tighter so the knots would dig into her body just that much more and serve as a painful reminder of her sinfulness. This, of course, underneath all the layers of her Victorian garb, which I'm sure was already torture enough.

Because I don't really remember anything more about the story, I was free to associate thoughts of it to this week's comic: First, belt-tightening is painful -- especially after several continuous years of it. This concept, I think, is lost on the ones who cavalierly toss the term around. And by cavaliers, I mean a Bush administration and US congress who haven't even worn a belt for several years.

Second, however misguided and self-destructive, you have to be impressed with the desire to correct behavior. State and local government, schools, and businesses have made impressive cuts to budgets and continue to press forward. The federal government wrings its hands (but not too much -- don't want to get a callus) over semi-distant issues with Social Security and very little else with Medicare, the federal deficit, the trade deficit, etc.

Third, I’m glad I wasn't born 150 years ago, because in the course of drawing the comic, I had enough not-so-nice thoughts to cut blood circulation at my hips.