Spring has arrived and with it the mowing of the grass. I got the old push mower out. The gas can was empty, so off to the gas station. It is a one gallon can. Well, one gallon and four ounces. That comes out even in the metric system, but I will never get the hang of that because I don't want to, I'm American. In America we use our own system. Worked fine for my Dad, his Dad and the dad before him ! So I fill it up and it costs me three dollars and fifty cents. There is another gentleman filling up his car and I remark to him, " was a time when three dollars and fifty cents would have been enough for a friday night ! " He chuckled and agreed.
I do remember getting two dollars worth of gas, close to five gallons and going to the movies for a dollar and twenty five cents. If you had five dollars you could could also get popcorn and a soda. Now, all 3.50 got me was gas to mow the lawn and it isn't even my grass ! Times sure have changed. The value of a dollar has changed that much is certain. Paying more and more and getting less. In the big picture it all seems pointless.
Merle Haggard summed it up best when he sang, " I wish a buck was still silver back when the country was strong,back before Elvis and the vietnam war came along " Filling that gas can was just a little thing but it spoke volumes to me. My mind went back to the days when a dollar was something. It wasn't possessing the money, so much as possessing your pride. You earned a dollar and it was worth a dollar. That is not true so much anymore. Now it is more about the dollar, and how you obtained that dollar is not so important. It is just the spending of that dollar that is important.
I often heard my Dad speak about the value of a dollar. He would say to me, you don't understand the value of money. I, of course, didn't know what the heck he was talking about. I knew how much a dollar was and what you could buy with it. Old people are crazy that way. And when I was pumping that gallon of gas I became that old person. I understood what it was Dad was saying. The value of money is not in what it can buy you, the value lies in the earning of that dollar. It is an ethic. A code. A dollar honestly earned is far more valuable than one that is not. Money cannot buy those things that are most important.
It would seem the trend is to increase the price of things. This in an attempt to build a facade over the truth. And the truth is what we all have known all along, money cannot buy happiness. Money is nothing more than a tool. A tool is an object to assist in doing work. A tool does not do the work ! True value lies in the work you do here on this earth. What is your job ? It is to earn money ? Just something to think about.
I do remember getting two dollars worth of gas, close to five gallons and going to the movies for a dollar and twenty five cents. If you had five dollars you could could also get popcorn and a soda. Now, all 3.50 got me was gas to mow the lawn and it isn't even my grass ! Times sure have changed. The value of a dollar has changed that much is certain. Paying more and more and getting less. In the big picture it all seems pointless.
Merle Haggard summed it up best when he sang, " I wish a buck was still silver back when the country was strong,back before Elvis and the vietnam war came along " Filling that gas can was just a little thing but it spoke volumes to me. My mind went back to the days when a dollar was something. It wasn't possessing the money, so much as possessing your pride. You earned a dollar and it was worth a dollar. That is not true so much anymore. Now it is more about the dollar, and how you obtained that dollar is not so important. It is just the spending of that dollar that is important.
I often heard my Dad speak about the value of a dollar. He would say to me, you don't understand the value of money. I, of course, didn't know what the heck he was talking about. I knew how much a dollar was and what you could buy with it. Old people are crazy that way. And when I was pumping that gallon of gas I became that old person. I understood what it was Dad was saying. The value of money is not in what it can buy you, the value lies in the earning of that dollar. It is an ethic. A code. A dollar honestly earned is far more valuable than one that is not. Money cannot buy those things that are most important.
It would seem the trend is to increase the price of things. This in an attempt to build a facade over the truth. And the truth is what we all have known all along, money cannot buy happiness. Money is nothing more than a tool. A tool is an object to assist in doing work. A tool does not do the work ! True value lies in the work you do here on this earth. What is your job ? It is to earn money ? Just something to think about.
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