Almighty dollar?

It is amazing to me how much revolves around the concept of money.

A few years ago I made the observation that every adolescent at some point makes: money equates to freedom.

As years passed, I found myself in little desire of money, and the evil sway I was convinced it had over people. I was certain that even with little money people could be happy.

Even still I know that if EVERYONE had less money, just enough to get by and have a little on the side perhaps, then a greater number of the population would be happy. Throw a little papal cooperation in there while we're being idealist, and you have better population control with contraceptives.

But this my dears is the theory of communism, one theory that sounds wonderful on paper, but has not yet worked well in practice. Either someone gets power hungry, keeping the excess for themselves and their select circle of family and friends (as in Russia) OR the people realize that not working at all gets them the same exact amount of money as working six days a week,(as in Cuba) so there is no reason to toil away at a job you don't like. There is also no incentive to go to school beyond actually wanting to learn. And if you strip away the promise of financial benefit in our Western society, I believe you would find that many of our population would no longer have the desire to attend universities or trade colleges.

Some would. I'm the type to go to all the classes I can and learn as much as I can from people who already have that knowledge. I'm also the type to in turn pass along knowledge I have obtained.

Anyway, over time I struggled somewhat with money: more so when I moved out on my own. I paid a lot of money for my independence. And then when I was finishing up school, and no one was calling me back right away for jobs, I had to rely on others for getting by. Finances really put a strain on James and I. I'm still uncertain if I would have been that stressed if it was just me. Probably.
For about two weeks all of our interactions were inlaid and sabotaged by this overwhelming stress of money.

Then after working at HSC for a month, I finally got paid. And all these little stresses melt away. We have food to eat, and I can slowly pay back my credit line. Its truly amazing how easily they left. Its also amazing how little money it took for that stress to leave. I'm writing this to remind myself not to get caught up in "stuff". Possessions are just things. Food and shelter and transportation come first.
I'm not going to hoard all of my money, not by a long shot. But I am going to try to be consciencious about it. After I pay back my credit line I'll either save up for a trip or a car. Probably a trip. But we'll see.

Little steps get you farther than giant leaps where you slip, fall and break your leg.