Money, Money, MONEY!!!!
(Before I get started I’ve started a new blog page at tianastarmusic.wordpress.com if you also want to follow that! Thanks!)
It does seem like it’s all about money sometimes (or all the time). I KNOW that money can’t buy you love (as The Beatles so aptly sang), and that money is no replacement for anything that really matters and fills our hearts. However, we do need money for necessities like food, water, clothes, shelter, gas, cars, and so on and so forth. Let’s not even go there about things we don’t need!
In these times of economic hardship, it seems that money and saving money is on everyone’s minds. Some try to cut expenses out of necessity, and others to be wise and frugal. My family and I are no different. I’ve been learning to coupon (www.TheKrazyCouponLady.com) and cut out a lot of things like memberships, cable, and whatever else we can so that we can get by and pay our necessity bills.
I also know that being an American, and having enough food, water, clothing and a place to live, not even counting my bicycle, a car, a cell phone and my other non-essentials that I’m blessed to have, make me one of the richest people in the world.
I found this amazing and informative article on Yahoo! Finance by Laura Rowley titled “You Might Be Richer than You Think.” I was shocked to hear some of these findings she cited.
(http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/moneyhappy/204898)
Here are some excerpts from the article: 1. Are you planning a sumptuous dinner today? More than 1 billion people – nearly a sixth of the world’s population — are faced with chronic hunger. 2. Did you spend more than $2.50 on the ingredients for your Thanksgiving menu? More than three billion people — almost half the world’s population — live on less than $2.50 a day, according to the World Bank. 3. Can you turn on the faucet to fill the water glasses for dinner, and be confident that clean water comes out of the tap? According to the World Bank, 1.2 billion people lack access to a reliable water source that is reasonably protected from contamination. 4. Are the kids relishing a little time off from school? More than 70 million children of primary school age in the developing world were not enrolled in school in 2005, according to a United Nations Report. 5. Will someone in the family read a holiday poem or blessing before you dive into the feast? Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names, according to a UNICEF report.
After reading the above article, I hope it changed your perspective, as it changed mine. We focus so many times on what we don’t have, or even let the fear of losing it all ruin our lives. But life is so unsure anyway, we should be thankful to have another day of life and for all we do have.
(My sister Linnea volunteering at an Orphans’ home during her time as an Art Teacher in Tanzania, Africa)
Thank you for reading, and as always, please feel free to comment and perhaps share how blessed you are and any ideas on how we can help others, or even a story about how someone helped you when you needed it!
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tianastar posted this
