Money is Not a Root of Anything

"Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and I." F. Scott Fitzgerald

If Mitt Romney is elected President, he will be the wealthiest President in our history. President Obama is a millionaire, but he can't hold a candle to Romney. These past few days as Romney has been enjoying his $8 million vacation home in New Hampshire, he's gotten some flak from even the Republican faithful. Incidentally, or perhaps coincidentally, Obama has cancelled his Martha's Vineyard vacation this summer.

We Americans are funny. On the one hand, the American dream is all about accumulating wealth. We want our kids to get good grades in school so they can get into a good college so they can get a good job so they can have a good life. Owning our own home used to be a privilege, and now it has become a right. That's part of what drove the credit crisis, this idea of buying a home before we could afford it. Then once we have the home, we need to fill it with large flat screen TV's, front loading clothes washers and dryers, and don't forget the two late model cars that need to be sitting in the garage. There is nothing wrong with money, earning it, saving it, spending it. Money is not good or evil. Money is merely currency, yet it seems that we all but worship it here in America.

So while we all are striving to become wealthy, those of us who aren't there yet have this odd, disdainful envy of the truly rich. I mean, really now. Shouldn't Romney be able to drive his grandkids around the lake in his boat? Shouldn't Obama be able to take some time off from what has to be a very stressful job to relax with his girls? And okay, I will admit that they usually take much nicer vacations than the average American family, but in the grand scheme of all the problems we have in our country, what does it matter?

They are both very rich men. They are different from me. I am good with that. I don't need them to understand me. I don't need their sympathy or their empathy. I don't need to hear that Mrs. Obama is shopping for dresses over at Ross Dress for Less, or that Mrs. Romney is visiting Supercuts every six weeks. That would do nothing for me. But come January, whoever is sitting in the White House needs to understand the very real problems our country faces, and needs to know how to work with the legislators to get us back on the right track. And if he can do that, then I say he is worth every penny of his $400,000 salary. And then some.

Susan

Begin Again

"For what it's worth, it's never too late, or in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit. Stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again." F. Scott Fitzgerald

I am a morning person. I tend to think that we are hard wired to be early birds or night owls. I love waking up. I love my morning coffee, first thing. It is part drug (caffeine) part delicious hot beverage and part ritual. I am at my most reflective in the morning. I think all kinds of wonderful thoughts as I sit and drink my coffee. Sometimes things dawn on me (pun intended) that I had never thought of before. Of course, getting up early means that I fade out early in the evening, too. I have one night class, and occasionally I work at my job until 10:30 in the evening. I can function, but I don't exactly blossom at those times. Naps are my friend, but even with a good nap, I am no night owl.

One of the things I like about the morning is the promise that it brings. It's a new day! The only day I have, because yesterday is gone forever and tomorrow? None of us has any promise that we will even have a tomorrow. Today. It's a clean slate, where I give myself permission to start all over again. If I messed up yesterday, I forgive myself and move on.

I have started all over again many times in life. Sometimes the older we get, the more inclined we are to see starting over as some sort of failure. It's not. It's a privilege, actually. To be allowed, or to put it more correctly, to give ourselves permission to start over. Fitzgerald puts it perfectly when he says it is never too late to be whoever you want to be.

Today. Best day ever.

Susan

"Today" written by Billy Corgan