No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon (money).
Matthew 6:24
I went to this meeting last night. No, it wasn’t an AA meeting, or an SA meeting, or any of those…not that they aren’t very valuable…
It was sort of a “money” meeting.
Everyone there was all super excited about the prospect of generating more of that flimsy green paper adorned with dead notable art.
The topic was one of those network marketing schemes. You know the drill. You’ve probably been to one of those meetings yourself.
It is tempting…I’ll have to admit.
And in my current state of severe (OK, maybe not all that severe) economic lack…I was mildly tempted.
But then I came to my senses and got the heck out of there.
I’ve written often in the past about money…you can view those posts…
here…
and here…
and even here…
just to link a few.
My thoughts about this issue are fairly consistent and well documented.
So, why write about it again, Costa Rica Guy?
Well, this post perhaps is more aimed at me than it is at you.
Because my repatriation to the States has brought a renewed realization regarding the vaulted position that money holds in our intensely capitalistic society.
I saw it during my time in LA County Jail.
And I’ve seen it in countless other ways from the moment I was shackled to a bench at my celebrated re-entry.
And now, as I try to figure out how to actually thrive in the good ole U.S. of A., it’s smacking me upside my titanium steel-like hard head.
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah…I hear you.
But that don’t mean I have to like it.
Or, succumb wholeheartedly to the notion.
Or, become a money seeking caricature of an actual human being.
One that get’s all hot and bothered when some guy with a horribly tacky tie gets up and tries to convince me that I too can drive a new white turbo-charged BMW that floats down the road like a motor-propelled feather in the wind.
You see, in Costa Rica, all that stuff didn’t matter all that much.
So, why should I let it matter here?
You know, I’m thinking of applying for a job in a steel mill. A guy told me they were hiring and paying decent Union wages.
I’ve never worked like that in my life.
But the way I’m thinking, maybe it would be good for me.
To see how real people, the ones on whose shoulders this country was built…
to see how they make ends meet.
Oh, I know, but what with my education and all…
I could do better.
Ya think?
Do better in what way?
Nah, not really my cup of tea.
image credit: Pimento Of Doom via Compfight cc
Leave a Reply