I should have taken a page out of my older brother’s book, but I never saw myself as someone who would end up bankrupt.  I’ve been struggling with money issues for years but I always kind of thought of filing for bankruptcy as cheating.  I felt that if I had built up this debt than I should be responsible for paying it off – I didn’t want any kind of free pass.  I was admittedly a little bit jealous that he had built up all that debt and then was able to just wash his hands of it while I was over here struggling to survive.  A lot of the money that he owed had been squandered on garbage that he didn’t even need: fancy dinners out; week ends at a ski lodge; flowers, concert tickets and lord knows what else for whatever girl he happened to be dating at the time.  All of the money that I racked up went toward food, medical bills, diapers and all of the other stuff that we needed to survive while I was laid up after my car accident and unable to work.  Maybe it’s just my foolish pride and I should suck it up and file, but I still have a hard time trying to respect someone that abuses things like bankruptcy that are there for the people who really need them, not there for guys who just don’t feel like paying their bills.