(#28) The Balance of Luxuries
“You are not going to get rich renting out your time...”
Jamey Johnson’s country song The Dollar might just break your heart.
A young boy learns about the working world. He learns that grown-ups exchange some of their true freedom in order to regularly pay the bills, put food on the table, and clothes on our backs.
With this revelation, and watching as his father walks out the door, the boy scrambles to find some loose change in the house:
“Mama tells her little man,
Your daddy's got a job.
And when he goes to work they pay him for his time.
Well the young boy gets to thinking,
And he heads up to his bedroom,
And comes running back with a quarter and four dimes.”
Hopefully and hopelessly, the boy pleads:
“And says, mama, how much time will this buy me?
Is it enough to take me fishing or throw a football in the street.
If I'm a little short then how much more does daddy need
To spend some time with me?”
The assumption of traditional family roles aside for a moment, the song scratches the surface of an important conflict. The conflict between time and money will turn in the mind of anyone whose basic needs are already met.
Consider the blurry line between the gold that sustains you and the golden handcuffs that might entrap you.
And to make the most your time, consider how to make more time your own. For you. For those you love. For those who love you.
How might you encourage those in your care to make the most of their time with you to make more time their own?