Cynicism about Money
Recently I was sitting in a food court near the Space Needle in Seattle. There are two things that Seattle has a lot of. First is Starbucks’s coffee shops. I found one corner in Seattle where I could see three Starbuck’s coffee shops at once! Not three doors, but three different shops. Crazy. The other is Bank of American ATM’s. I guess it is like their headquarters or something? Anyway, there are a lot of them too. There is a very prominent one in the middle of this food court. As I sat there eating my pizza and watching the poor souls that had to make a living serving out junk food, I tried to put myself in their shoes. What would it be like to stand behind that counter all day?
I realized exactly what it would be like. Sitting behind that counter, all day, waiting for people to get little green pieces of paper out of that Bank of America box in the middle of the room, and come put them in my box. I realized that I would become extremely cynical and depressed over the futility of the whole situation. I mean, if I could just go get those green pieces of paper myself and put a bunch of them in my box, then I could go home.
I could see myself becoming a bank robber. I can just see myself trying to explain my “little boxes” to the police. 
“Honestly, sir, I was just trying to speed up the process.”
Of course, I do know enough about economics to know why that doesn’t work, but I also know enough to realize that, on a larger scale, that really is just how it does work. They little green pieces of paper just go around and around in big circles. People have been trying to cut out the middle man for years, but the problem is, everyone is the middle man. The only way to cut out the middle man, is for me to get myself out.
That really is key too. I have never really had a love for money, but I do love the things I can buy with it. Slowly, though, as I watch the world go around me, I am loosing that. I think it is part of what God is teaching me through this time of my life. I find daily now, that I care less and less about anything that money can buy, other than the needs of myself and my family.
Don’t get me wrong, I like living “well!” However, “well” used to mean buying all sorts of unnecessary toys. Now it means just being able to buy generally good quality of whatever it is we need, and most of the things that we “could use” without any worries about the budget. I’m still not sure how well I could deal with living like a missionary or something, but I certainly don’t need, or even want, to live like a king either.
