The only thing worse than losing an auction by a few dollars is winning one by a lot.
Seth Godin
Wisdom
money
If You’re Sad…
You are looking in the wrong places.
Don’t watch or read the news unless you can do so without reaction. (A challenge for me.)
People are good. My sister-in-law suffered a stroke. She’s only 50. We put up a GoFundMe and they received THREE times their goal.
A ten-year-old boy in our community lost his father to Covid. I collected money among our teachers and their network brought in $1,000 in two days. It’s still growing!
People are good. Remember that. Be the change you seek. Make effort for good.
Page 26 of “Chloe the Clingfish”*
She stood there and stared at the boxes. How could she be so excited to buy them and now feel so ambivalent? Her heart fluttered. She had no more credit for purchases. And her clutter was leading to less and less room in her home.
To get her mind off of her problems, she decided to watch some TV and have a snack.
Equanimity: A Different Metric
You are on the right track if:
- you can lose your job and still remain calm,
- have your graduation or wedding postponed and you’re still happy,
- you choose people over money,
- remember that this, too, shall pass
But of Course…
I agreed to be the sponsor for several sixth-grade boys who wanted to start an investment club at school. They run it and I am just the certified teacher in the room to monitor them.
During the first meeting, one of them told the audience of three kids (ages 11, 12 and 13):
“So a long-term stock is like a short-term stock, but it’s not short-term. Hence the name.”
Money Talks
Locals (Phoenix/Mesa, Arizona): Please boycott the Breakfast Club in Phoenix. A young man had the “n word” written on his ticket by a coworker. The owner says it was just a joke and no one has been held accountable. In fact, this young man, Rakevion White, has had his hours cut with no explanation.
Money talks. Take your business elsewhere.
Quality Over Quantity
I rarely redirect my blog to someone else’s. But Seth Godin has an important message I agree with and I can’t put it better than he does:
It’s almost Halloween.
“Cheap chocolate is made from beans picked by poor kids in dangerous conditions.” Seth Godin
He goes on:
“On the other hand, expensive chocolate turns the ratchet in the other direction. The folks who make the bars, particularly those who do direct trade, keep paying higher and higher wages. They keep children out of the system. And they encourage their growers to use the tastier artisanal Criollo and Trinitario varieties, keeping them from extinction.
The race to the top often creates more winners than losers. That’s because instead of seeking to maximize financial returns at the expense of everyone in the system, they’re focused on something else.”
Seth Godin
Catharsis
Daily art prompts. Today’s: “Dream a Little Dream.” I just drew and wrote what came to mind. It became instantly cathartic. Since March, I have lost a friend to a heart attack, my father to lung cancer and discovered a loved one is a severe alcoholic. This has brought to the fore some unsavory childhood memories. The spate of mass shootings in the past couple of days is also disturbing.
But art and writing are centering me.
Faux Calligraphy
Skipping
“If you had everything in the material world (ambition, power, money), would that bring you happiness?
Go back in time when you got something you really wanted. Were you happy? How long did it last?
You can be happy without anything achieved through ambition. So why not skip that step and just be joyous?”
-Byron Katie
Kismet 