Waiting Isn't Doing Without or Longing

This "waiting" covered a number of years, but it wasn't a situation of doing without or longing.  Before becoming a believer and entering ministry, I was a funeral director.  The firm for which I worked recovered and transported a great many coroner cases for several counties.  Not to be too graphic, but many of the cases were far from pristine circumstances and our company had a black Silverado pickup with a shell for some of the messier situations.  This was the late eighties.  My boss knew he could send me alone to a site and I'd receive help, whereas if he sent a man, he'd have to send two, because they wouldn't be so apt to receive assistance from other responders.  Yes it was sexists and that's just the way it was.  So, frequently I drove the Silverado.  I really enjoyed driving that vehicle.  I'm a General Motors girl at heart, so I've also enjoyed Cadillac driving, yet I digress . . .

When I left that career and was living in town, I had no need for a truck.  Down the road, Mr. B had just purchased a truck the week before he met me, so after we married, I still had no need for a truck.  I wasn't crazy about his little S10, but it served it's purpose.  Actually, driving his S10 on the Interstate felt a lot like driving a go-cart at Nascar, but again, it wasn't my deal and it served it's purpose, until things just started needing repairs . . . the nickel and diming had officially begun.  That's when Mr. B mentioned looking for a new used truck.  I knew I didn't want a Ford, and although everyone loved their Dodge Rams, I could take 'em or leave 'em.  In checking the trucks made by General Motors, there were basically five beyond another S10.  There was the mid-sized Chevy Colorado, the full sized GMC Sierra, the Escalade, the Avalanche, and Chevy is still making the Silverado.

There is no need for a new vehicle, so I did some checking for used trucks.  As you have probably already guessed, there is now a Chevy Silverado in the Land of Goshen.  As I think back to that first one I drove, all those years ago, it certainly wasn't a popular style, it was the way it handled and the dependability that appealed to me.  It had a rugged stability that felt durable and dependable.  They still build them that way!  I didn't spend 25 years wishing I had a Silverado, I had no need for a truck, but I also didn't spend the money on other things.  Thankfully when the time came that the truck we did have began to need repairs, we didn't allow it to become a money pit.  A mechanic was delighted to purchase the S10, and I'm thankful to have not settled for something unnecessary along the way.    

Had I purchased a Silverado back when I first liked the one I drove at work:  A. it would be very old by now, when I actually need one; and B. it would have undoubtedly involved payments, to have a truck for which I had no need, at the time.

The Difference

Most of our society has become oblivious to the concept of need vs. want.  Then there's the fact that the concept of a finished product faded from factory work years ago, not to mention entertainment is now considered to be a service, as well as a necessity.

When we began working for money, wealth was defined by material possessions and how we spend our free time, the concept of a product and service truly got lost.  It is my fervent hope that the Other 1% actually increases in numbers.  An actual product and service based economy would change the imbalance of our current situation.  I don't see that happening, but that would do it.  It's really very simple math.

A few, very few people have most of the money, because the majority prefers to pay and gripe.  If people stopped going to movies and watching sports, the celebrities and athletes would not be millionaires, and the media moguls and team owners would not be The One Percent.

I would love to see more people live above the poverty line, but raising minimum wage isn't the answer.  Far too many folks just can't see what raising the minimum wage will actually do in this country.  First and foremost, always remember, if politicians are for it, it won't benefit the people.  Over half of the representatives in Washington are in The One Percent.  This aristocracy crosses party lines . . .  If minimum wage is raised to $11.00 an hour, that means everything that is assembled or served by folks making minimum wage will go up.  It also means, the rest of the work force will will either insist upon higher wages, or their buying power will be reduced by the increase to cover the increased minimum wage.

Selling hamburgers is not manufacturing and phone plans are not really providing a service.  Manufacturing used to involve making something tangible that was either lasting or met a "needed" purpose.  A genuine product and service economy doesn't actually require money.  The money is for convenience and taxes.  A product and service economy provides a way for everyone to have what they need that they can't actually make or do for themselves.  The auto industry used to be a great example of this.  So was pre-pharmaceutical health care and genuine retail sales, for that matter.

Basically, it's not about the money at all, but rather it's about priorities.  Poor people can be greedy.  Wealthy people can be conscientious.  The only thing that will change this faltering economy, and truthfully, I think it's too late, is for people to stop working for money and start using their G-d given talents to make or trade what they need to live.  I speak from experience, entertainment is not so necessary when you enjoy your life.

Need vs. Greed

As a society, we've been living large for so long, we truly have no clue as to the absolutely difference between need and greed.  I see that everywhere in our society, myself included.  Convenience stores are becoming larger than grocery stores and the truth of the matter is, the majority of Americans do not put their money where their mouth is, they put their money where the convenience is.

I'm sick to death of hearing the demand for job creation when I see most of the citizenry standing around waiting for it to happen!  Life will pass by those who are waiting for someone else to make it happen!  Start a business . . . Hire an unemployed friend . . . Time to use our talents to carve out our own niche.

As for pro-life folks.  Why buy products from a country that mandates abortion for the second baby girl in a family?  While that nation is having the unwanted girls make cheap products to export, the nation is building quite a powerful army.

We may say we believe in something, but the truth is, our lifestyle says otherwise.  We like lots and lots of stuff at our convenience.  Some of our supposed "need" is actually just laziness.  We have become such a society of relaxers that need to be entertained, most wouldn't know what to do if faced with an actual day's labor that needed to produce tangible results and accomplish a finished product.

We've become a nation that chooses to not see the bigger picture or the next step, but expects someone else to have the next comfortable convenience available when we get there and want more!  We talk big about what we can do without, but most folks that are talking that way, have had it and didn't decide to do without, they lost it.  Our nation has been operating on borrowed money and a pawn mentality for so long, we have the audacity to justify it and expect more perks or more understanding.

We cannot sort out each other's priorities.  If we actually focused on what we could do to make things better, and tossed a few things that are truly unnecessary, we might discover we could actually offer more in the way of contribution, rather than criticism.

These articles this week, have really spurred my soul searching.  Just because I'm not at the local mall or Super Center doesn't mean all my priorities are in order.  I may not stop at the convenience store for coffee and cigarettes, but is there something I could be doing or someone I could actually be helping with that money I'm not spending?  I've had a few of those moments of clarity and revelation of opportunity!