Going For Broke

I’m glad the sky is grey and huddling close to the earth today. The day is darkest at what should be its brightest point. Sleep came in fits last night; I woke once or twice with a tight chest and labored breathing. I am sick and I am tired and today is a good day to be both of those at once.

In all of this sickness I am grateful. I wake to read the news that this system, this finite, greed driven system, is collapsing all around us. I'm not grateful for the collapse (although I do see the silver lining of a much needed humbling for the excessive and ungrateful nation we have become).

This gratefulness does not come from seeing those who have tried to live wisely, tried to live simply and tried to live honestly only to watch the greed of others bankrupt their best efforts. No, I'm not grateful for that in the least. I am angered by it.

No, today I am grateful for shelter, for food, for friends and a family that loves me. I am grateful for the simple things we as a people have forgotten to be grateful for.

As the American dream becomes a waking nightmare the things mentioned above will be what I will continue to cling to. And as a result not too much will change for me. I have strived to position my life in such a way as to value not what society tells me I should, because as anyone who has ever stopped and looked at the past will tell you societies are fickle and fleeting, but instead to focus on that which I know to be valuable.

America may very well be on the fast track to financial poverty. Personally, I see this time as a perfect opportunity to become a people who once again focus on being “relationally rich” rather than monetarily wealthy.

Loving your neighbor doesn’t cost a dime, so love often and love freely.