Poor? Rich?

For economic resources, do you consider yourself POOR, or are you RICH? Do you have what you need to survive, to "get by?"  Are you able to provide yourself and your family, if you are blessed with live-in relatives, all of what you and they NEED and some of what you and they WANT?

Your attitude about your resources is critical to your happiness!  If you are fairly content with your income and how you're able to live, you are blessed!  You and your world are happy!

In my growing up years, my mother and grandmother lived like we were "poor."  There's a fine line between being thrifty and cautious financially, and between saving too much.  I now understand that when my dear, long-departed grandmother and grandfather suffered the horrible shock of the 1929 Stock Market Crash and resulting economic "Depression," their lives were forever changed. Grandpa's salary was immediately cut 50% and Grandma had to go to work so the family could eat.  With a 6th-grade education, no previous job experience, and a practically non-existant job market, she did the only thing she could do: scrub floors (on hands and knees!) for "rich" people.  She was bitter about this for the rest of her 82-year life.

Mother, dear mother, may you also rest in peace, caught this pervading atmosphere, "we're poor, we're barely scraping by," and kept it for many years.  Mother shopped for bakery items at the "day old store."  For years, she sewed clothes for me and my three younger brothers (even some underwear!) out of the free (and somewhat rough) printed feed bags my Uncle Robert gave her left from feeding cattle on his farm.

Mother had but one "good, Sunday best" outfit which she wore for years.  We children were dressed well but mother was not.  We ate simply; ice cream was a rare luxury.

Much later I found out that we lived in, for that time and even now, one of the "richest" areas in Louisville (in Kentucky, U.S.A.).  I also discovered that mother had been paying two or three house payments every month!

Mother's attitude markedly morphed into one of feeling "well-off" financially after our family moved with Dad to Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A., after I graduated from high school.  What was the difference?  She was far enough geographically away from Grandma and then with Dad.  Growing up without much money in rural Tennessee, Dad's family never had much money but they were considered "rich" because Dad's father owned a grocery store and taught school.  Dad always felt "rich."

After my brothers and I married and Dad learned how to succeed in the Stock Market, Mother's attitude further changed into one of truly feeling "rich."  Mom and Dad took dozens of cruises all over the world.  My brothers called the building in San Antonio (Texas, U.S.A.) where Mom and Dad last lived "The Taj Mahal."  They were successful, financially, beyond Mother's wildest expectations.

What was my own feeling about wealth or lack of it while raising my own children?  I never knew what my husband earned, I just knew that if I needed anything for myself or the children, it would be provided.  And that's how we lived.  We told the children we could provide for what they needed,  but if they wanted anything beyond that, "Get a job!"  We never felt we should compete with some of their friends' families who bought only fancy, expensive brand-name athletic shoes, and everything else.

Feelings of being "rich" or "poor" are based on comparisons and expectations.  What do you expect to own?  How do you expect to live?  You may work hard, very hard, earn a lot of money, or not.  You may get a high-paying job, invent something terrific that earns millions of dollars, or not.  You may get more education to try to get a better job, or not.  You may be in dire circumstances and have to go on the public dole (welfare) or not.  We are indeed fortunate in 2014 if we or the primary wage-earner in the family has a decent job and our needs are met.

In my opinion, one of the worst of our government proclamations was the May, 1978, "directive" by the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) Office of Management and Budget, "Definition of Poverty for Statistical Purposes."  It is a very complicated formula, based on "family size, sex of family head, number of children under 18 years of age, and non-farm residences."  It's purpose was noble, I'm sure, to enable the government to keep American families from starving and homeless conditions.  Yet it may have very well been the start of American expectations: if we don't earn what the government says a family our size needs to earn, then we are in POVERTY and can get more income from the government in the form of subsidies, food stamps, etc.  This document, in effect, by creating numbers for comparison, created ENTITLEMENT!

There were plenty of years when my husband, who earned a decent salary and could provide for all our needs, along with me and the children, could have qualified for government aid due to the size of our family.  But we knew we didn't need it and also knew we were too proud to accept government aid!  We didn't turn down, however, a hefty tax refund every year.  We made ends meet by careful budgeting.

This week, I'm visiting Patty, daughter #6, child 8 of 10.  I told her what topic I was blogging on today and asked her if she ever felt "poor" while growing up.  She thought for a few minutes, then answered, "I knew that we didn't have some of the things - like vacations to Disney and other places - that some of my classmates had, but I never felt poor."

Now that I'm retired and receiving Social Security income (which is insurance I've paid into for many years, NOT wefare!!!), I'm having to return to more strict budgeting, as I knew I would have to.  But I am truly blessed, beyond my very wildest expectations, in the things that matter - family, friends, health, church community, even living in America.  I am RICH!!!

Dear Lord, I thank you for all my worldly material blessings, all my life, and that I can look back with good feelings of always having what I needed.  Help all people in this beautiful world of Yours enjoy the same level of care and happiness!