My Family was never well-to-do when I was growing up and my Dad often had more than one job at a time. Three jobs, in point of fact, on several occasions. He did this to provide for my mother and me keeping a roof over our heads, food in the fridge and on the table and electricity for lights and heat. We didn’t have an extravagant life by any means. Often our weekly night out for entertainment would be going to a local stretch of busy train tracks to wait for the trains to come by so we could count the number of locomotives and train cars as each one rumbled by and clacked down the tracks. In the warmer months, my entertainment was found in our yard or in the stand of woods across the street from our house. We were lucky to have each other and everything else we possessed in our little piece of the world.
I myself have had many jobs working for the other guy (mostly Management positions) and I’ve had five different businesses of my own. I’ve also kept up my music career in one form or another and have been lucky enough to make a living at it for the third time now. I have seen the low side of life having lived out of my own car at one point with no job and no place to go much less knowing where my next meal would come from. Conversely, I have been fortunate enough to gross over $6000.00 per day with one of my businesses. I’ve been Bankrupt once and almost had to file a second time but found a way to work myself out of that situation. I can say without a doubt that just making just enough money to pay the bills and go out once in a while is all a person really “needs”.
Many of my friends and family members would/will be shocked to hear that I, too, have been on Government assistance. The EBT (Food Stamps) kept food in my belly when I would have otherwise gone hungry and maybe even passed over into the criminal world to be able to eat had it not been for that Government assistance. I realize that a lot of people are abusing the system. What I am saying is that there are so very many people which need some help from time to time. It wasn’t so long ago that a good friend had a heart so big as to help me get a car running and on the road. This person also loaned me money to pay off a debt and I’m currently paying him back with a payment every month. Now things are beginning to get back on track and life is once again good.
What does all this really mean? It means you shouldn’t judge a person based on their appearance, financial wealth, their education, their job or their past. In a nut-shell, just don’t judge at all! You probably don’t know a person’s situation and would most likely be incorrect if you speculated about them. A person’s worth can only be measured by their every day actions so unless you know them and are around them often, try not to measure their worth. Some of the most generous and thoughtful folks I know have, if you’ll pardon my French, no pot to piss in. (A point of Trivia here. A person’s status was once judged on whether someone had a “Pee-Pot” to use during the night stored under or beside their bed so they wouldn’t have to go outside to relieve themselves during the night. Poor people could barely afford cookware to use for cooking food and did not own a Pee-Pot. The Pee-Pot was considered a luxury item only afforded by the wealthy. If you were a Commoner, or poor, you had “no pot to piss in”. And now you know where the term comes from. You’re welcome!) I’ve ridden both ends of the stick. I’ve been more than comfortable with lots of “stuff” and so broke I had nowhere to live but my car and no food to eat for days at a time. Everyone should be so lucky for only then can one truly appreciate the things they have.
The moral of this little story can be summed up like this:
(From the Bible, New International Version)
Matthew, 7-2 - For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Toodles for now.
