All Comments on 'My Friend Jack'

Really good but very sad. No point saying he should have done this or that. Sometimes life is just shit.

Short but bitter-sweet. A nice piece of writing

That's an interesting vignette.

Wow, that was a sad one. Deep and thoughtful. 5*

Excellent story. Extremely sad, but excellent.

Poignant and a perfect piece of writing. You’ve done more character development is a few short paragraphs than most do in pages.

Wow! That is a huge cut above just about everything in this site. That was deeply moving. Thank you for sharing that.

really good story. No winners here. And the losers got off without any repercussions. Sometimes it just sucks. But the story didn't, Thanks.

You have to feel for Jack. But, at the same time he was clueless to the extreme. He wanted to be loved so badly he ignored all the obvious signs with Jasmine.

Back in my Air Force days, we sent teams to the Philippines regularly. The biggest base in the Pacific was there (until Mt Pinatubo buried it under volcanic ash). These young Airmen would meet bar girls, marry them and bring them back. One kid and one green card later, they would dump them for some better-looking guy at the Airmen's club. I warned these guys that reported to me before shipping them off not to follow that path. Some didn't listen. These were TDY assignments and shouldn't have time to get in that situation, but 20-year-old nerdy techs didn't have the experience to resist. This brought back memories. Thanks

Great telling of a very sad story. It did come very close to a similar thing happening to my best friend. Losing his mum, wife and daughter his only way out was the bottle. Reading your story did bring back those sad memories. 5 stars.

Not bad. 4*

Goddamm shit this one reached down deep and touch my soul

What a heartfelt telling of a story...

Sad story, but doesn't belong here.

Even if the story was well written, I have to admit that I didn't expect something like this here! That was a series of ugly events in one life! Reminds me of something!

Not bad. Three "loving wives" in a row....amazed he survived for a time. BTW would not trust a mail order Filipino bride as far as I could launch her with a rocket.

Not an LW story but gripping none the less. Fine stars

I enjoy well-written stories that express a lot of emotions. This story did the job. Usually the motions are outrage and anger. This one is different. It’s filled with sadness and regret and kicked me right in the feels.

Very well written. Well above the LW caliber!

Well written, but really sad.

The tragic thing is good guys like Jack often get shit on relentlessly by women. Nice guys finish last... as he found out to his cost.

You know life is rough all over, you try to make it better, life gets better for a while and then you die. Life only has one outcome, you get to DIE. But, here is an old one for you,

That’s Life.

What’s Life?

A magazine,

How much does it cost?

A quarter,

All I have is a nickel.

That’s Life

What is this mess!

Not sure of why you gave us a plain old sad sack story. And, on top of that, this type of story where literally nothing had ever gone some dudes way, and they aren't at the top of anyones reading list.

Humbled me 4*

Wisely Lullabye

Good story, but depressing as hell.

Wow, wonderful tale and yes it does belong here. A story about a loving wife and the destruction she can do to a man, her husband. Fits right in. Story and characters were well developed. Thank u for sharing ur sad story..

Very well done. !!

This story may not belong here, but we are very lucky it was!!! 5 stars

He felt like a fool for the same reason an aardvark feels like an aardvark. I should have said Do Do bird, since they are already extinct. Jack fits into Darwin's ecosystem exactly; an unfit organism that should be eliminated from the gene pool. We ALL should salute Jack for making his contribution to civilization. And its OK, because Jasmine will eventually end up no better off, just a slower process. Jasmine and Jack improve us by their example. It couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Thanks for the effort.

Sad tale for sure. How did he strike out with 3 women life was so cruel to a good man.

Good story but no excitement only sadness for for LWs ****

Well written sad story.

Reads like a Hemingway short story and punches just as hard. Bravo!

That is a pretty rough sort of story. Very bleak. I don't quite know how to rate it.

Okay!

4

Well written tale. Sometimes life can be cruel. You would be surprised how many men are duped by women they bring over or bring back. Key word is money and what they want it to buy them... Love you long time till someone has more $$. Then it's quá lâu, Joe.

Pretty interesting and well written, but with annoyingly simple errors, such as:

Jasmine had text me…

At he request…

Just today, I found out Jack's doctor had told him he was dying a week earlier. ?? Should have been “told him a week earlier he was dying.”

Cheating destroys innocent people. I would hope that Jasmine ends up back at Olongapo pulling $5 tricks.

can't say I've known anyone done quite that dirty. Seems likely though, which is what counts in good fiction.

Well done sir! 5*

Beautifully cruel...

...cruelly beautiful !

5

EastCoaster

Well that was depressing

What a sad tale of heartbreak for a man who deserved much better.

I'm a Navy veteran and seen this story played out many times. The area bars were always filled with "West Pac Widows". That is what we called wives who cheated while their husbands were on deployment. And most only stuck around until they get their green card. It's sad, but true.

Well done. But what a kick in the balls.

ooooh yeah careful with Filipinas.

I'm half Filipino half redneck.. Have family over there. Joined Filipino Cupid on a whim because why the hell not? Within 24 hours I had 3979 likes and 174 messages. And they weren't bots believe it or not. Hardly any were those obvious fake with IG model pictures like you see on tinder here.

Basically it was just an experiment. Open to possibly making a friend. Because I'm from a developed country and have anglo features I basically get the same attention as hot chicks do here. Messaged one I liked and she instantly tried to put me on lock down asking me to essentially commit and that I should turn off my profile now. So I turned off my profile and ghosted her.

The income disparity is way too insane. Even professionals there make less than burger flippers here. You have everything to lose and they have everything to gain. Not a situation you want to be in. There is definitely hope due to the culture and religion being so strong there but you can't be an idiot. Apparently the "right" way to do it is to not move her to the states. Staying in the Philippines will allow you to maintain your leverage and they will be happier than hell still if you're still paying. I had a Filipina actually explain this too me. Have an uncle that does this. 60 yo that married a 30 yo and gives her 1000 a month and she treats him like a god. I don't care if the chicks there dig it, that situation is just too scummy for my liking.

I have to agree with the comment that this short story could have been written by Ernest Hemingway. It should be on everyone’s reading list and not just on this website. The story rings true.

My uncle was in the US military and served in Vietnam for two tours of duty. During the final decade of his life, he retired to the Philippines. He lived in Angeles City near Manila. He had a young Filipina girlfriend who would cook his breakfast every morning. She was 35 years younger than he was. He told me that he could live like a king there even though he mostly lived on his social security.

The problem for my uncle was that, for him, everything was a commodity. He was very cynical. It all came down to money. He didn’t believe in the inherent goodness in people. Everyone was out to get as much as they could.

So, why would a young Filipina woman attach herself to a man who was almost old enough to be her grandfather? She may have loved him, but don’t tell me that money wasn’t a primary motivation. My uncle was her “sugar daddy”.

My uncle had multiple medical problems including diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The Philippines might be a fun place for a healthy American who has money, but don’t expect to receive medical care that anywhere approaches the quality you can receive in the US. When he was admitted to the hospital, he had to pay every penny out of pocket. Medicare or the Veteran’s Administration doesn’t pay for hospital stays in the Philippines. My uncle died after spending weeks on life support.

So why didn’t my uncle ever marry the woman or bring her to the States? That’s probably because he knew that, once in America, she could leave him for a younger and wealthier boyfriend.

It’s a sad story that he couldn’t find happiness back home in the States.

That’s why we punish the cheating whites on here

Thanks guys for the comments. Im a terrible writer, but it was an intetesting story to me.

To the gentleman complaining about my grammer mistakes, i am refunding your cost for the story. Please go to the post office and wait for it. Dont leave! It's on the wsy!

Cheating wives and girl friends are killers and should be punished and I suppose that appies to cheating men also. But a wife cheating kills a man's soul. It makes him something less thana man. We marry women and have children the the wife decides she wants somthing different, another man, a different man, why? Doesn't family mean anything? I'm 80 and still don't understand women. You can't live with them and you can't kill them. A well written story and it just points out what I;ve said. 5 stars

And I join them in raising my glass, "To Jack!"

Enjoyed the story, thank you!

To Jack! And the countless other men this has happened to! Funny…..Asian women can be the most sweet, caring women on the planet and rock you in bed like there is not tomorrow but at the same time they can be souless cunts that will use you to get what they want. Most come from poor backgrounds (at least the ones I have known) so they always crave the flashy lifestyle and count it as a badge of honor if they get somewhat wealthy or drive a nice car that isn’t American made. Anyway…..I hope Jack and others like him find peace before they take their final swig of the bottle.

Excellent work. Thank you.