In response to my previous post, a friend wrote to me, "Have to admit to reading this after returning from church...The sky hasn't fallen...all things are relative...things will work out."
In church today, my pastor preached, "Don't be afraid of the unknown...take that step off the edge and into the unknown...trust in God."
I'm a Wisconsin Teacher. Darn right I am afraid. And, though I am doing what I can to protect my family,
I am also doing what I know to be right.
In appreciation for the responses from these fine people, allow me this reference to Thessalonians:
"We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow...never tire of doing what is right."
While in church, I learned of a local family who lost their son.
As I write one more passage, this is written with no disrespect or insensitivity to those who have lost so much more than an income.
I am a teacher, civic in mind and action. This passage is a product of such.
Saturday morning, I put my truck on "Craigslist". It was a 1992 red Dodge Dakota.
Within two hours of the posting, an interested buyer had called and asked to see my truck.
In preparation for this buyer, my son and I drove the truck to the local Citgo station to put gas in the tank and air in the tires. When finished, I stuck my wallet under the front seat cushion.
Later, I sold my truck to this very buyer, a single mother. The truck was for her only child, a teenage boy. Seems she works the third shift and couldn't always get her son to school on time. The two of them came prepared to pay the full asking price.
As she began counting her cash, I walked inside my home to seek counsel from my wife. I asked, "They're going to pay full asking price. Do I have permission to cut them a deal?"
"No," she responded. "You talk about the greater good and, in this case, the greater good rests with your family. We need the money."
When I returned, I removed my license plates from the truck and told the two of them that they could keep the towing ball that was attached on back.
This single mother then handed me the full asking price in cash.
She said, "You can count it if you'd like."
"No, that won't be necessary," I replied. "Please take some this back and let me pay for the first few times you gas up," I said as I counted out some of the bills on top of the stack.
They showed their appreciation and drove away with my truck. I thought my gesture to be an act of altruism.
Later that day, I couldn't find my wallet...
This lady and her son met me half way, somewhere between our two homes, to return my wallet.
Not only is this story one of perfect irony but it is also a great lesson in economics.
First lesson, as I always tell my students, "never pay full asking price."
Second, an economy does not function in a linear capacity. One's tax dollars, as an example, do not merely drift away in linear fashion, never to return.
An economy is cyclical and often circular. Tax dollars are not acts of altruism. Tax dollars are a necessary component of a cyclical economy.
At some point in our history, and I don't know how I missed it, education turned from "an investment in our future" to "a cost".
They next time tax dollars appear to be too great of a cost, keep my red Dodge Dakota in mind.
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