I subscribed to that philosophy, except for the money part. For money I follow the Federal Government rule. That rule states to make sure you spend every cent as quickly as possible so that you’ll get more because you need it. It also insures that you get a bigger budget next year. It works for me except for the more money part, I never get more money but I’m hoping that someday I will.
I have a few possessions that I’ve saved for a rainy day. I’m thinking that I made a mistake. I’ve pretty much cheated myself for years.
One of my cherished possessions was a gift from She-Who-Rules. One Christmas she bought me a really nice custom knife with an embossed leather sheath. It was really fancy and would’ve looked great on my belt back when I could see the belt below my gut. I got the knife out the other day and it had rusted. I’d saved it for a rainy day and would never get to enjoy it.
I also have this pair of boots that are pretty fancy. They’re made from an exotic species that may be extinct by now. I’ve had them for years but kept them put up for a special occasion. Back in the day they cost upward of $25 at Hart’s Kosher Shoes and Deli. Anyway, I put them on and they looked real good but the stitching started breaking when I walked. The exotic animal hide cracked. It seems I saved them for nothing. All those years ago I could have enjoyed the comfort of eradicating a cute little forest creature to have awesome footwear. The rainy day I was saving for must have come while I was napping.
It’s like when we went to an estate sale recently. The estate owners had passed away, and the kids hired one of those companies that get rid of things. The inventory included all kinds of collectables still in the boxes. There were ancient kids’ toys still new in the box and decorative plates that never decorated anything. The heirs even sold nice picture frames complete with the photos of the deceased. I’m thinking the benefactors wouldn’t be amused that their cherished knick-knacks went for $1.99. Saving stuff just didn’t pan out for them.
My friend Bud is a saving kind of guy and has all kinds of things put back for the apocalypse. He’s even kept everything his parents put back for their apocalypse which probably includes what their parents put back. It may go back generations. Some nephew is going to either get rich from all the brick-a-brac or fill a landfill somewhere. He’ll curse the junk left behind for a rainy day that hasn’t arrived for eons.
I went back and looked at Aesop’s Fable about the wisdom of saving. It has more than one interpretation. In some cases it’s the ant and the grasshopper, and in others it’s the ant and the cicada. I think the moral of that version is that bugs can be loud and annoying. There’s a version that portrays the ant as a selfish miser trying to make the other insects starve unless they pay severe markups or maybe subscribe to an overpriced service or something like that.
The point is, don’t think saving is always good. You can save that t-bone steak in the freezer forever and say “Man, that beef would have been really good if I’d have cooked it while I still had teeth” or you can enjoy the steak. I don’t want to be on my deathbed and think that I should have worn those boots more. I don’t want my nephew to sell my good knife for a Pokémon card.
Let’s all change our view of the ant and the grasshopper, or cicada, or whichever noisy insect we choose. I say don’t be a greedy ant, enjoy your stuff today. Don’t wait for rain that may never come. Be a cicada today and let the estate sale companies get their own stuff.
Put it another way. Don’t let your boots rot or your knife rust.
Fini.
No comments:
Post a Comment