Wanting, Giving and Getting
This spring, I got a message from the universe. Now, I don’t get too many messages from the universe; sometimes I don’t even get my phone messages. But this message was very loud, and it came at four in the morning in the form of a tremendous thud from my closet. This particular message was one that my partner had tried to send me several times, but I managed to ignore him; however, messages from the universe are not so easily dismissed. They aren’t like Post-it notes that you can throw away. They tend to be big messages, like “Your life is too stressful,” or “It’s time to find a new career.” This was one of those big messages. The message was, “You have too many clothes.”
The stupendous weight of my clothes pulled the bracket holding the closet rod right off the shelf it was attached to, and my beautiful wardrobe hit the floor. I was stunned. Hadn’t I just gone through this closet and taken out a few dozen things and taken them to the local thrift store? How could this happen? My recent wardrobe purge was the result of a class I took in seminary last semester about stewardship. Some of the early sessions focused on American consumerism and how it hurts our pocketbooks, the environment, and even our souls. We did an exercise which included a visualization of our living space, and we tried to imagine what we would take out if we had 10 minutes to grab as many things as you could before the house burned down. I had trouble thinking of anything that I would take except my photographs, some files and my grandfathers coin collection. The thought of carrying out clothing hadn’t even crossed my mind. I started to ask myself questions. If my clothes don’t mean that much to me, why do I own so many? So I tried to clean out my closet of clothes, obviously I was not generous enough.
I suspect that this is a good question for all of us to think about. We make more money than we ever will spend as a nation, and we continue to buy more things, and yet we save much less than our parents and grandparents did. We carry staggering amounts of credit card debt, and more and more of us go bankrupt each year.
The fact is that a lot of Americans are uneducated when it comes to saving their money. Living hand to mouth and check to check is definitely no way to live, however a majority of Americans do in fact live like this. Most middle class and lower class Americans do not understand that putting all of there earnings in a checking account is actually not the best or safest idea. With the current low interest rates, you are actually losing money if you are fully invested in a money market due to inflation. Thi...
There are four stages mentioned in the article “Four Stages of Spiritual Growth in Helping the Poor” by Albert Nolan. The first stage is characterized by compassion; having concern for the less fortunate is the first step in helping the poor. Exposure and the willingness to let things happen are factors necessary to develop our compassion. Exposure is a way of obtaining information on a cause and with more exposure, it leads our compassion to become deeper and more lasting. Excuses like “It’s not my business” dulls our natural compassion. When someone develops compassion, it leads them to take an action, typically relief work. Discovering that poverty is a structural problem is the second stage. Oppression, political systems, and injustice
"Without a Hand to Hold" Analysis and Interpretation of "The Preacher Ruminates: Behind the Sermon" Gwendolyn Brooks' "The Preacher Ruminates: Behind the Sermon" gives an eerie look into a minister's mind. Indeed, the poem's premise is made clear from the opening line: "It must be lonely to be God" (1). The poem proceeds to note that while God is a much-revered and respected figure, he has no equal. The preacher's revelation provides the reader with a unique perspective into religion. Brooks points out that due to God's position of omniscience, it is not possible for a figure like Him to have friends.
In “The Way to Wealth” Benjamin Franklin writes, “We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four times as much by our folly” trying to prove a point that frequently people are being taxed an outrageous amount and are taxing themselves extra by actions like spending excessive amounts of money (Franklin 237). Throughout Franklin’s “The Way to Wealth,” he explains how an American economy should work and maintain a stabilized economy for themselves. In the American realm today, about 5.0% of people find themselves facing unemployment, a time of stress and conflict (“Databases, Calculators & Tables by Subject”). With the unemployment rates rising for the first time since February of 2015, the American economy is also facing an increase in debt levels throughout personal households
In 1630, the Massachusetts Bay Company set sail to the New World in hope of reforming the Church of England. While crossing the Atlantic, John Winthrop, the puritan leader of the great migration, delivered perhaps the most famous sermon aboard the Arbella, entitled “A Model of Christian Charity.” Winthrop’s sermon gave hope to puritan immigrants to reform the Church of England and set an example for future immigrants. The Puritan’s was a goal to get rid of the offensive features that Catholicism left behind when the Protestant Reformation took place. Under Puritanism, there was a constant strain to devote your life to God and your neighbors. Unlike the old England, they wanted to prove that New England was a community of love and individual worship to God. Therefore, they created a covenant with God and would live their lives according to the covenant. Because of the covenant, Puritans tried to abide by God’s law and got rid of anything that opposed their way of life. Between 1630 and the 18th century, the Puritans tried to create a new society in New England by creating a covenant with God and living your life according to God’s rule, but in the end failed to reform the Church of England. By the mid 1630’s, threats to the Puritans such as Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson, and Thomas Hooker were being banned from the Puritan community for their divergent beliefs. 20 years later, another problem arose with the children of church members and if they were to be granted full membership to the church. Because of these children, a Halfway Covenant was developed to make them “halfway” church members. And even more of a threat to the Puritan society was their notion that they were failing God, because of the belief that witches existed in 1692.
Now, we are living beyond our means by borrowing from other countries just as Usonia borrowed from Sinopia. When the Sinopians finally stop lending, our standard of living will be forced downwards. Right now, all forms of debt have become some sort of government debt. Schiff believes that we have created a whole new bubble- one in Treasury bonds. When it bursts, price level and interest rates will soar. The effects would be even worse than those of the housing bubble. “How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes” paints a picture of an economy mimicking the U.S. that could have avoided its disparaging fate. We, however, still have time to escape this path if we allow free market forces to regulate the economy, spend within our means, and build savings in case of a cloudy future.
Paraphrase- While folding the laundry, I often think of folding you into my life. Our king-sized sheets are as big as a table cloth for giants, and our pillowcases still possess our dreams from nights past, even though they’ve been washed time and time again. Our towels are orange and green with pink and purple flowers. We only used them for when we went to the beach and we never bleached them. There are so many shirts, skirts, and pants that are used week after week. So many wrinkles to be ironed out or to be ignored because they are in style. A great number of unrolled socks, which
How much money is one morally obligated to give to relief overseas? Many In people would say that although it is a good thing to do, one is not obligated to give anything. Other people would say that if a person has more than he needs, then he should donate a portion of what he has. Peter Singer, however, proposes a radically different view. His essay, “Famine, Affluence, and Morality,” focuses on the Bengal crisis in 1971 and claims that one is morally obligated to give as much as possible. His thesis supports the idea that “We ought to give until we reach the level of marginal utility – that is, the level at which, by giving more, I would cause as much suffering to myself or my dependents as I would relieve by my gift” (399). He says that one's obligation to give to people in need half-way around the world is just as strong as the obligation to give to one's neighbor in need. Even more than that, he says that one should keep giving until, by giving more, you would be in a worse position than the people one means to help. Singer's claim is so different than people's typical idea of morality that is it is easy to quickly dismiss it as being absurd. Saying that one should provide monetary relief to the point that you are in as bad a position as those receiving your aid seems to go against common sense. However, when the evidence he presents is considered, it is impossible not to wonder if he might be right.
“We believe in personal choice, rather than society dictating how we must live our lives.”- Mike Peters. In the book The Giver by Lois Lowry, the citizens in the community live without choice, meaning they have no control over their own lives. Because of that they do not suffer the consequences for any choice but they do not get to experience freedom. Lois Lowry is saying, the importance of personal choice can change a person's emotions, helps people’s abilities to be independent and affects the freedom which allows a person to pursue what they want in life and to make their own decisions for their future. A person’s emotions can change because they do not know what to feel since all their decisions are made for them, being able to choose
The clothing that has been sitting in my closet for over year can be a life changer and an opportunity for them to receive education.
The different qualities and personalities each individual on earth expresses represents how diverse the planet is which is an indication of how creatures have evolved overtime. Amongst these individuals there are mean-spirited folks or nice-spirited folks, there may even be people who are both depending on the day. When describing The nice-spirited persons the qualities often implicate the term generous. What is generosity? Why are people generous? The further we comprehend this word, the better we are able to judge on it, and answer the proposed questions.
• That great outfit you bought last week went out of style exactly three seconds after you paid for it and is now lying on your closet floor.
To me it was more than just an old dresser. It held many of our family's best times and fondest memories. I realized that I would soon have to leave my family and move on, but the mementos I had collected would remind me of them each and every day. I was jolted out of my blissful trance as the loud honk of the van horn made me snap back to reality. I quickly threw on my coat and grabbed up my bag, giving one last glance at my dresser.
My mom and I were cleaning up our attic this weekend, and in the process I found all sorts of old junk that I had forgotten about. Of course, I wanted to keep everything I saw; otherwise, I would not have stashed it there in the first place. But after standing over me and prying my hands off of every item that I encountered, my mom finally convinced me to haul all of my broken treasures to the Dump. I wince at the thought of having to brave the ever-present gloom that reigns there. The Dump is a strange and repulsive place, where people tend to bury the human spirit along with their refuse.
Unlike what other people may say, saving is actually not that difficult, it just depends on the way of thinking of a person. Most people would complain about how difficult it is to save money, but they don't actually considered changing their lifestyle. Unfortunately, one of the reasons for that is people are trying so hard to keep up with other people, they simply don't want others to have a better life than them. They wouldn't let their neighbor have a better car, a better house, better furniture. It's like they are in a competition wherein there really isn't a prize and the only thing that might happen in the end is they will end up being broke. How will you be able to save, if you can't live simply, if you continue spending money over unnecessary things just so you could feel and look better than others. In the end, you'll be the one to lose even if there really is no competition after