That darn 5 letter word again.....MONEY

I am reminded once again as I read the morning paper how very greedy we the people have become. A flight attendant suing over a passenger's tyrant over a drop of water, a supposed "preacher" flying first class. I am trying to remember the last time I flew first class, oh yeah a trip to Disneyland when bumped by the airline back in the day when the airlines actually did try to be the "friendly skies". As the airlines continue to take away more and more services from those of us cheap soles in coach I am forever intrigued by first class, until I see the price... $1,000, $1200 and so on depending how near or far you travel. Good golly Miss Molly that is more than a months pay for most of us "middle" class schmucks. Yet an individual who has supposedly devoted their life to the service of God and the good of the people doesn't even seem to bat an eye as they pay that high price from their poor congregations daily devotions.
We have all seen the lines of people outside food banks hours before they open hoping to get a few morsels to feed their hungry children because the rest of their pay has to go toward gas to put into the car to get to work in order to pay for more gas for the car to get to work... and so it goes.
I am not too sure when our nation became so materialistic. It seems that no matter how much or how little one person has the next person always has to have more and / or better. Walk down any High School or Middle School hallway during passing time and count the number of students texting on their personal cell phones. OK yes I have to admit my very own C and T had cell phones in High School but only after the incident at Columbine High School and once they were driving on their own, but their phones did not have the text capabilities and they were to be used for emergencies only. Well of course my own offspring are perfect and ONLY used their cell phones for their intended purposes. Aren't all of our "kidlets" (as a friend of mine likes to refer to these charming individuals) a mere perfect image of ourselves? Well but honestly, perfect no, but absolutely terrific you better believe it.
My children did learn what it was like NOT to have everything that little Joey down the street had. To this day our house still does not have Nintendo, Play Station, Wii or whatever the next market blitz, couch potato must have "entertainment" gimmick hits the store shelves to cause our kiddies young and old to camp out on the sidewalk outside the store at midnight in order to be the FIRST to have the latest craze. I do not begrudge anyone for having these new fangled contraptions, it is just that our house seemed to have other things that always took precedence, like food, gas, a roof over our head. I am forever amazed at the number of children waiting for their parents at the welfare office that are playing their own personal Nintendo DS (selling price $129).
My biggest pet peeve, and anyone who has known me for any length of time has heard this repeatedly, but here I go again. Shortly after my husband and I were married we were on a very strict budget. I saved a little extra grocery money each week so that we could have a "special" treat for our 1 month anniversary. I took this paltry bit of extra change and went to the fish market. "Yes I would like 1/2 pound of your fine fresh baby shrimp for my special man". In comes this young "gentleman" (very loosely speaking), he orders 11 fresh whole crabs (ah they are beauties, fresh, big and meaty). The sales clerk tells him it will be some 3 digit figure to the left of the decimal point. (Wow that is some celebration his family will be having). But wait it gets better.... As I hand over my few extra quarters, nickels and dimes to pay for my 1/2 pound of fresh baby shrimp, this "gentleman" (again very loosely speaking) whips out his neat and crisp FOOD STAMPS!!!!! to pay for his 11 WHOLE FRESH CRABS!!!!! Today 27 years of marriage later and I still have never bought even 1 FRESH WHOLE CRAB!!!
Yes that darn 5 letter word... MONEY.... once again the culprit of evil and good. My man and I enjoyed our meager 1/2 pound of cooked baby shrimp that night and the 27 years of marriage that have followed.
And so it goes, oh bother.