excess

I think my perspective is changing on something...

Money has been scarce lately at our house. I haven't had a job since September. Lynn hasn't worked full time since May, & isn't working now. So money is flowing from our life like a mountain stream after an afternoon shower.

As a result, we've become very frugal, out of simple self defense, not out of any deep sense of simplicity ;-)

I now marvel at how much money we spent, on all kinds of things. And I marvel at how much the people around me spend, & why.

And as we've moved our things from Macon to Blairsville in a rather higgledy-piggledy manner, a pickup truck load at a time, I've realize how much "stuff" we have that we never use, or need.

In the last month I've kinda stood with my mouth open at how much we all spend needlessly. Since I've been asking myself many times over the past few months, "do we need this", it's natural to do the same thing when I've watched the spending of others.

Now, before you think I'm sitting in judgment here, that's not it at all. I'm just telling you that since we're having to justify our spending these days, I've begun to look at spending in general, for us, & for those around us.

I find that simply because we can afford to spend our money on something does not justify spending it on it - "just because we can" isn't reason enough to buy something.

We have such a strong sense of entitlement here in America, & in the west. We feel that if we want it, we should have it. How many times have we heard the commercial with the undervoicing that says, "I want it all, I want it all, I want it all, & I want it now!"

And we all live at the top 5% of incomes in the world - yes, even those below the poverty level in America are in the top 5%.

What am I getting at here?

Let's all just take a look at what we spend, & why. For those what have much, much is expected. Is the expectation that we spend our resources on ourselves, or is the expectation that because we have much, we should become less self-absorbed & self-centered, & simply "spread our money around like manure, helping small things grow." (That's a line from "Hello, Dolly!"  ;-)

Look at your life & what you spend, and why - I certainly am.

(I just reread this - it doesn't come close to expressing what I'm thinking & feeling these days, but it's the best I can do for now. Sorry.)