Steve McDonald <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> I reject completely your entire premise. If people spend their best years grubbing and
> scheming for the most dollars, most will become flabby and unhealthy. And, no matter how much
> they acquire in assets and the false prestige that accompanies it, they won't be happy. There
> may never come a time when they can abandon this ethic of maximum acquisition and finally
> relax and enjoy the things they've missed most of their lives. The best way to have a good
> life is to learn how to need as little money as possible. You can't buy the things I've
> enjoyed all my existence. I now live what to me is the life of a prince and I do it with what
> would likely be no more than pocket change to someone like you. I know how to have marvelous
> adventures every day within riding distance of my door, at a cost of pennies. I'd be very
> unhappy taking jet-set vacations, knowing I could provide a much better time for myself
> without blowing many thousands for it. When the world's ecology, economy and culture
> collapses because of the greed and overconsumption by so many, I'll be well prepared to make
> the best of things-----will you?
>
> Steve McDonald
>
Steve,
Nothing in my post claims that I am wealthy. Millions of youngsters in their 20's earned five times
what I did last year (happy April 15th, by the way). What I <have> been able to do, and what I urge
Patrick to do, is to realize that we live in a capitalist society, and to recognize that we all have
a finite period to accumulate enough nuts and berries to survive.
For the record, my wife and I have never been on a cruise, let alone a "jet-set vacation"; we drive
to the Jersey Shore and rent a motel room every year for the past 28. Her car is eleven years old. I
last bought a suit in 1991. And the "marvelous adventure" I had yesterday afternoon began at the end
of my driveway too, on an after-work ride in the Maryland countryside. I was able to do this because
my office is attached to our house. The reason I walk to work is precisely because I've avoided the
ratrace you've described in your post.
Steve, I completely agree with you that money does not buy happiness, that "more" is not the same as
"better", and that nobody can buy the pleasures of your life's experience. My advice to Patrick was
not to engage in grubbing and scheming for money as you describe, but to recognize that the system
under which we live operates on dollars. Like yourself, I wish it wasn't so mercenary, but the
<reality> of life in 21st century America is that if you don't accumulate enough monetary assets
during your prime working years, you will be at risk in the case of illness or injury, not to
mention a burden to your children/family/friends in senior years. Reality is not the way things
should be, its the way things are. If Patrick reads between the lines of my post, he will understand
that I'm advocating frugality by investing his 8-5 weekday hours wisely, by not being at the mercy
of a landlord, etc. I'm not trying to frighten him with a scenario involving morbidity, public
housing or dog food. But I hope he realizes that the "productive" timeframe of American workers
shrinks every year. I'm not describing his value to his family and friends. I'm talking about his
relative worth as measured by our (flawed) society. In my father's lifetime, a man's earnings were
highest when he was between fifty and sixty years of age. Today, 50-year-olds are shown the door,
and I do <not> plan on wearing a paper hat or smock at age
60.
Patrick can enjoy many of the things that you and I do. He can live in a region of the country that
appeals to him. He can also have the serenity and confidence to go thru life with self-respect,
knowing that he's planned for his and his family's future.
Bernie
