(no subject)

[blistermoth]

I finished listening to the audiobook of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone last night. I feel like I'm the last person on earth to read it. Rowling is a master storyteller. The reader on the tape, Jim Dale, is brilliant too. I'll start the tape of Chamber of Secrets on the way into work.

My favorite laundromat is closing to remodel for a month. It's a very nice one so I'm not sure why. Maybe the new owners will put the TVs away from the washing machines so I don't have to listen to Oprah insult moms who don't have the time and money to outfit themselves to the standards of "What Not to Wear."

But I really want to write about is my sensitivity to when people at church talk about finances, specifically their latest purchases. Yesterday friends of mine at church we're talking about their new car which was "just under $20,000." Now I know that $20K isn't a lot of money to spend on a new car. But I feel inferior cos I can't imagine spending that much on a car in my lifetime. Inflation may prove me wrong I guess. Then there's my friends from the church I used to go who are buying a very nice house that my librarian salary will never be able to afford either. On the other hand, I'm fully aware that I have more resources than 85% of the world. So why do I feel inferior in the above situations? Jealousy is the problem I guess. I should be happy when my friends can afford nice things. On the other hand I feel quite ashamed of my air-conditioner less house and dirty, scratched up car. But I wonder how many people have left the church in similiar situations? Should we caution against such discussions for the sake of the kingdom?

Comments

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I think one could draw a distinction here. If you chose to do so, you could make big dollars at a lot of things--you're educable, bright, and capable. You've made choices--good choices--and you are fully entitled to exult in them. It's folks who don't have the smarts or the "get there from here" who might really be hit by talk of money--although, oddly, the demographics of more expensive cars include a fair number of people who can't afford good housing. In my part of the south, people lived in shotgun shacks with Cadillacs, because car financing (particularly for a recent model used car) was easier to obtain than real estate financing.

But you raise a valid concern. Still, I have to think that the trouble with these communications issues is that all the sensitivities sometimes overwhelm any chance for connection. I mean, for me, a car over 20K is affordable, but I choose to drive a car that cost 14k. Yet, to the person who lacks even 6K, the mention that I own such a car could be taken as a form of reproach, even if I mention it's a new Hyundai Sonata rather than its purchase price. But in reality, eventually one could not say anything, because we are all consuming (and all-consuming) creatures.

But in your case, you live the good life in the right way, which for you involves certain choices with certain economic consequences. You should revel in what you have! You have a lot.

[blistermoth.livejournal.com]

Thank you, thank you, thank you.