The nature of Greed
Wow, I haven't been on here in weeks...nothing happened, I just haven't felt like posting on here. I didn't really plan on it today, I just read other peoples' and suddenly felt called to open myself. Alright God, I'll write a little something.
My parents frustrate me. I never used to complain about them, but ever since I've been with Eryn, I have seen in clear light their worst qualities. They bully, they manipulate, they plot and scheme...all with a friendly face and a fake smile. Oh well. The issue right now that gets me is their greed. My parents have always been pretty tight with money. Why? Good question. Maybe it's because growing up, and when they were first married, they didn't have any. But for most of my life, they've had it. My father is a very successful attorney. Granted, it's not a big city firm, but Iron Mountain is one of the biggest towns in the UP, and Mouw & Celello has been around for years and is very well known and respected. They make business deals all over the UP and Wisconsin. And my dad is the Senior Partner of the firm, meaning he's the boss. Meanwhile, my mom is a full-time music teacher at the biggest school in the county, where she's been for almost twenty years. We are NOT poor. My parents paid for almost everything I own. They paid for food and gasoline when I was in high school. Every holiday, they'd lavish us with gifts. We're talking EVERY holiday, birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, even lots of candy for Halloween and a small gift for St. Patrick's Day. We go to Ohio at least twice a year, we used to take two-week long vacations out west into the mountains every summer, we've gone to Florida every year for almost a decade, we've vacationed in Seattle twice, DC once, Australia once, and Rohan Mexico twice. We have three vehicles, a nice house with everything we need, two snowmobiles, half a dozen different boats, a fourwheeler, a cottage...we are well off. So why, WHY is it that they can spend all this money on themselves, but not on ANYONE else? I guess they think their weekly tithe to church is enough. When friends of ours have financial trouble, they'll offer advice, prayers, maybe some meals and manual labor, but is there ever a flash of green? No.
For the last year or so, my best friend has had it pretty rough. She was living in an apartment with her stepsister, but she was the only one with a job. She worked at a grocery store. She had no car, little food, she could barely feed herself and her cats, and her stepsister expected her to take care of the rent. And what did my parents do? Invited her over for meals and an evening of hanging out every now and then. Not every week, just when it was convenient. I wanted desperately for them to take her in (we have one spare room when everyone's home, and THREE empty room when Andrea and I are at school), since they claim to consider her their second daughter, but my mom complained after she stayed there for a weekend at MY invitation. Finally, she was able to find a nice guy from Ohio who had a good job and offered to take her away from that dead-end situation. It almost didn't work out because there were money complications right at the last minute. Now, my parents and I both knew about this. What did they, the very well-off, well-established couple with great jobs who called her their daughter, do? Felt sorry for her. What did I, the poor college student who only had a job during the summer, do? Sent her as much money as I could. More than my parents ever would have said I should've. Did I regret it or give it a second thought? Absolutely not. I was glad to help.
Then we get to my and Eryn's wedding. At one point, I asked my parents if they would help out financially with the wedding, figuring they'd have no problem with it. They refused, insisting it's the bride's family's problem. That's true, it's tradition, but you know what? It's bull. Eryn's parents are nowhere near as well off as mine. Mrs. Dixon doesn't even work, so whatever meager salary Mr. Dixon gets while he's getting his teaching degree he has to put towards supporting himself, a wife, and four kids, two of whom are in college, as well as the dogs. My parents, on the other hand, already have the jobs I mentioned before, have no one to support at home but themselves, and only have two kids, both of whom are at college taking care of themselves. And my parents refuse to help? Excuse me? Why is that the people who have scraped to survive, who worry each year whether or not they're going to have Christmas, who live on foodstamps, are TEN TIMES as generous as the people who can pack up and go to Florida when they feel like?
What brought this all on was Eryn's pageant. She's supposed to sell ads for her platform, and there's different sizes that cost different amounts, ranging from 25$ to somewhere over 100$. I fully expected my parents to get the largest size. Heck, if I were them, it'd be one of the largest size for each of them. But what'd they get? The 50$ half page. Eryn says they were planning on the 25$ one, but decided to up it because she was going to handle all the formatting and transactions. I'M getting the 25$ one. Something is very wrong with that.
My dad always called it being "thrifty". On good days, I call it being cheap. Today, I'm calling it what it is...greed.
"It seems the only happy people are those who are poor,
Cause the discontented people just keep striving to get more.
For pleasure and possessions are what they're told to strive,
But I doubt their credit cards have made them glad to be alive."
-Nick Poulson
All I Want is You
My parents frustrate me. I never used to complain about them, but ever since I've been with Eryn, I have seen in clear light their worst qualities. They bully, they manipulate, they plot and scheme...all with a friendly face and a fake smile. Oh well. The issue right now that gets me is their greed. My parents have always been pretty tight with money. Why? Good question. Maybe it's because growing up, and when they were first married, they didn't have any. But for most of my life, they've had it. My father is a very successful attorney. Granted, it's not a big city firm, but Iron Mountain is one of the biggest towns in the UP, and Mouw & Celello has been around for years and is very well known and respected. They make business deals all over the UP and Wisconsin. And my dad is the Senior Partner of the firm, meaning he's the boss. Meanwhile, my mom is a full-time music teacher at the biggest school in the county, where she's been for almost twenty years. We are NOT poor. My parents paid for almost everything I own. They paid for food and gasoline when I was in high school. Every holiday, they'd lavish us with gifts. We're talking EVERY holiday, birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, even lots of candy for Halloween and a small gift for St. Patrick's Day. We go to Ohio at least twice a year, we used to take two-week long vacations out west into the mountains every summer, we've gone to Florida every year for almost a decade, we've vacationed in Seattle twice, DC once, Australia once, and Rohan Mexico twice. We have three vehicles, a nice house with everything we need, two snowmobiles, half a dozen different boats, a fourwheeler, a cottage...we are well off. So why, WHY is it that they can spend all this money on themselves, but not on ANYONE else? I guess they think their weekly tithe to church is enough. When friends of ours have financial trouble, they'll offer advice, prayers, maybe some meals and manual labor, but is there ever a flash of green? No.
For the last year or so, my best friend has had it pretty rough. She was living in an apartment with her stepsister, but she was the only one with a job. She worked at a grocery store. She had no car, little food, she could barely feed herself and her cats, and her stepsister expected her to take care of the rent. And what did my parents do? Invited her over for meals and an evening of hanging out every now and then. Not every week, just when it was convenient. I wanted desperately for them to take her in (we have one spare room when everyone's home, and THREE empty room when Andrea and I are at school), since they claim to consider her their second daughter, but my mom complained after she stayed there for a weekend at MY invitation. Finally, she was able to find a nice guy from Ohio who had a good job and offered to take her away from that dead-end situation. It almost didn't work out because there were money complications right at the last minute. Now, my parents and I both knew about this. What did they, the very well-off, well-established couple with great jobs who called her their daughter, do? Felt sorry for her. What did I, the poor college student who only had a job during the summer, do? Sent her as much money as I could. More than my parents ever would have said I should've. Did I regret it or give it a second thought? Absolutely not. I was glad to help.
Then we get to my and Eryn's wedding. At one point, I asked my parents if they would help out financially with the wedding, figuring they'd have no problem with it. They refused, insisting it's the bride's family's problem. That's true, it's tradition, but you know what? It's bull. Eryn's parents are nowhere near as well off as mine. Mrs. Dixon doesn't even work, so whatever meager salary Mr. Dixon gets while he's getting his teaching degree he has to put towards supporting himself, a wife, and four kids, two of whom are in college, as well as the dogs. My parents, on the other hand, already have the jobs I mentioned before, have no one to support at home but themselves, and only have two kids, both of whom are at college taking care of themselves. And my parents refuse to help? Excuse me? Why is that the people who have scraped to survive, who worry each year whether or not they're going to have Christmas, who live on foodstamps, are TEN TIMES as generous as the people who can pack up and go to Florida when they feel like?
What brought this all on was Eryn's pageant. She's supposed to sell ads for her platform, and there's different sizes that cost different amounts, ranging from 25$ to somewhere over 100$. I fully expected my parents to get the largest size. Heck, if I were them, it'd be one of the largest size for each of them. But what'd they get? The 50$ half page. Eryn says they were planning on the 25$ one, but decided to up it because she was going to handle all the formatting and transactions. I'M getting the 25$ one. Something is very wrong with that.
My dad always called it being "thrifty". On good days, I call it being cheap. Today, I'm calling it what it is...greed.
"It seems the only happy people are those who are poor,
Cause the discontented people just keep striving to get more.
For pleasure and possessions are what they're told to strive,
But I doubt their credit cards have made them glad to be alive."
-Nick Poulson
All I Want is You