What's Life About?

Pondering the pursuit of wealth and where will it lead...Retirement center/quality of life? Making an impact...

I have noticed lately that in many people (including me)life holds two components depending on where one is in life.

For people like me, struggling to make ends meet is a major factor in my life. I have many responsibilities and most of them center around being able to afford provision for my family. Most of my time is spent trying to make money, figuring out how to make more money, or how to spend it and who gets the biggest cut first. Life is hard and it would seem that it is mostly due to this lack of finances.

I also have friends who are extremely well off, and much of their time is spent making money, figuring out the best way to make more, The wisest way to spend/invest their money, and protecting it. One advantage they do have over me though is the freedom from having to worry about keeping the kids fed, or how to keep the lights on. Their cars don't break down and if something needs fixed, a repairman is just a phone call away. But, they still have the stress of protecting and increasing it. They go on vacations while I rent a movie for the family to watch.

I have also noticed that in charity, most of the time, my $100 bill is matched by theirs. Not all that much of a difference in giving. I find this strange. Am I more charitable, or is there simply a set standard to give? While I do make a difference at times through my charity, they could really make an impact, but choose not to. Where I offer a band-aid, they have the ability to totally heal the wound, but don't. My giving always costs me much and my family always feels the impact of it. I wonder how much their giving really costs them? Do they have to maybe eat a little cheaper? Put off buying clothes the children desperately need? Maybe shuffle around their bill paying schedule...I don't know because I am not there.

Another thing I have noticed is that regardless of financial status, we all die the same. Some may get a nicer box to be buried in and more pomp and circumstance, but none-the-less, both end up in the same dirt.

I believe it would be wise if people could realize it is not the amount you give that makes the difference, but rather the price you pay, to make that difference. If some work of charity is to be of any real impact, it will always come at a high cost to the giver, and if not, then the work is all in the name of vanity. We can either pay up front, or in the end, but we all will pay!

Only we can decide how we want to be remembered...I prefer not to be happily forgotten as a vain person, but fondly remembered as a person of impact!