Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Greed versus Generosity...it is a Choice!

If one more person says to me..."We are in this problem because of all those people who bought homes they could not afford!"
I WILL SCREAM!

The problem is a little bigger than that...it wasn't just young people borrowing money for homes that would later not be worth what they bought it for or that mortgage lenders knowingly put them in homes they knew that they could not afford! Although, that's some of it. It's not just that "flippers" bought homes for sale like they were on the stock market floor.

I would like for one moment for you to just add up what you pay per month for Insurance...this includes life, health, car, disability and home insurance!
That is quite the sum isn't it? Insurance companies are just one example of soulless corporations that answer only to stock holders...(that's people just like you and me) and the corporations only requirement is to make money for the stock holders...any way they can!
I can give you example after example but it all comes down to greed...every one's greed...all of us!
We also like all the things we have and will pay a huge monthly fee to make sure these "things" are taken care of...some of us even have storage units because our homes are too small for our things, that we also pay a monthly fee to insure!

The news has made me feel sad lately...even President Obama hasn't made me any happier with his speeches!
I have found a few things that have made me feel more in control and more contented...
It isn't new to me but fear had made me forget.
I am trying to be generous and I can do it with out spending a dime!

I give of my time at the kitchen that feeds people once a month...I get hugs and smiles and real "Thank yous!" I spend three hours of my time a month there and the joy it gives me is not something I can measure!

I am trying to use the library more often as we are budgeting and I LOVE to read! The librarian mentioned that there have been big cuts made to their budget. I came home and looked at my book collection on my two big mission style bookcases, the ones that I am quite proud of! I counted my books and looked inside the jacket covers and mentally tallied the sum I had spent on books. I don't regret the money spent...I love to read and at the time I could afford to do it but rather I regretted them sitting on my book shelve and others not having the opportunity to use them! I decided that I would give most of my collection to the library and give the others away as I read them...I will not just keep them on my book shelve. I donated 65 books to the library and my book shelve is still full. I felt wonderful doing it...and I still do!

I am looking for other ways to be generous...any other ideas?

7 comments:

jill jill bo bill said...

I love that idea! I went thru my closet and gave some suits that I will never wear again to some girls who were recent grads in Dec. trying to get a job in a corp. setting.

Unknown said...

Good for you! I need to get off of my rump & start giving more...

Karyn said...

I did the same thing with my hardcovers a few years ago.
I like to leave drinks for the garbage men. I get a small Styrofoam cooler from the dollar store and put water or cokes inside. I mentioned it to someone at church a few years a go and they suggested it for a Lenten idea.
I think we need to keep praying for our country and turn off the news! xo

A New Yorker said...

Please remember that a part of spirituality and universal energetic priciples is balance. If you do not spend, if you do not believe you have the right to have an own things you are actually stifling the energy and being a part of the situation you are fearful of or just don't like, use your own adjective. Buy your books, love your books, pass them on. Same with anything else YOU can afford.

Too many people DID buy homes that should not have been able to. Too many people bought homes well above their means, like the bus driver in the DC/Maryland area who bought a home for what??? $300,000K or more. That's unbalanced besides fiscally stupid. The banks were forced to make loans that allowed this. It's a mess. But we can do our little part by accepting what we can or cannot do and not feel guilty about it. :)

Ronda's Rants said...

I do agree... Lauren, however too many of us think "things" will make us feel better about ourselves...we will be prettier or smarter! Things can never do that. We try to insure ourselves so that bad things will never happen to us...but you can never have enough "insurance" for that! Bad things DO happen to Good people. I am sure there are several instances that happened to create this but...we all contributed to this.
People who invested with stupid investors didn't do their homework either. Rather than blaming everyone...which is rampant in the news right now...I would like to feel generous. Everyone wants to make money and there is nothing wrong with that...but personal responsibility for your decisions should be include these corporations, too!
Realtors, Mortgage lenders, builders...were greedy too! Everyone has their hand out...we All knew it was wrong!

Betty said...

That is such a great think to do! Thanks for encouraging us to do the same!

Decor To Adore said...

I recently cleaned out my closet and if it hadn't been worn/used in a year it was delivered to the battered women's shelter. They needed it more than I do.
We also give our recycled can money to the boy scouts. It feels good to give! :)