With or without money

I have this chat group with my buddies from high school and these wonderful people post stuff that inspire, educate and once in a while include some funny cat videos and baby photos that would put a smile on my face. I do not have the time to “follow” or read back every post because of my work, but once in a while a material makes me laugh, think and ponder. And I am going to feature one of them.

But first there is a need to know that this is a group of people who are no longer young. Many of them have successful businesses while others have had brilliant careers. Some have retired and the prevailing theme in this post seems to cover information on doctors, medicine and health issues. Others would talk about the brevity of life, importance of friendship and sharing of ideas on how to maintain good family relationships.

Some of the posts are funny, some are reflective and some would really make one think. This post is one of them. We cannot identify the original source of this but then this keen observer surely offer some good truth here. This person shows the contrast between a person with money and a person without money. Ingenious! I will add some side comments of my own along with the observations.

1. Vegetables

Person without money eats vegetables at home; person with money, eats the same vegetables in a fine dining restaurant.

2. Bicycle

Person without money rides a bicycle to and from home; person with money rides an ‘exercise bicycle’ at home (In fact, it doesn’t go anywhere).

3. Walking

Person without money, walks to earn food; person with money, walks to burn fat.

4. Relationship

Person without money wishes to get married; person with money wishes to get divorced.

5. Behavior

Person without money acts like a rich man; person with money acts like a poor man.

6. Seriously???

Person without money, wife becomes secretary; person with money, secretary becomes wife. (I am sure this is meant to be funny and not a serious thing...or is it?)

And then this genius of an observant collects his or her thoughts and then said:

“Person says the market and the economy is bad but keeps on speculating.

Says money is evil but keeps accumulating.

Says high positions are lonely but keeps wanting them.

Says gambling and drinking is bad but keeps indulging.

Sometimes human beings can be so self-deceiving, refuses to face the truth and does not mean what he says or say what he or she means.”

This is how complicated people are. Consider the following:

Fifty pesos given to a beggar seems to be too much to give but totally too small when given as tip at a fancy restaurant.

Two poor starving kids sitting on the pavement weren’t given even a slice of bread but a painting of them is sold for a scandalous amount of money.

Observation of young people:

After a whole day of work, spending hours at the gym seem alright, but helping your mother out at home seems like a burden.

Praying to God for three minutes takes too much time but binging on a TV series or watching this movie on superheroes for three hours doesn’t.

Waits a whole year for Valentine’s day but always forget Mother’s day.

Humans are so complicated and difficult to understand. I know this as I am in the training business.

The rest of the column does not deal with the above subject matter but is worth sharing. Again, you need to understand that these are thoughts coming from people who have journeyed life for many years and every word weighs heavily in their heart. Here are six easy ways to earn even after death has conquered life:

1. Give a smile or gift to someone. Each time you give a smile, it will make someone’s day. You gain.

2. Donate a wheelchair to a hospital. Each time a sick person uses it, you gain.

3. Participate in building an orphanage, or a hospital or a school or a college. Anybody uses it, you gain.

4. Place a water cooler in a public place. When someone drinks the water, you gain.

5. Plant a tree. Whenever a person, animal sits in its shade or eats from it, you gain.

6. And the easiest of all is, share this message with people. Even if one applies any of the above, you gain.

But let me add one more thing. Share the message of hope in God and His offer of forgiveness and eternal life. And then you yield eternal dividends. I just did my turn of sharing, now it is your turn.

Now, some dude out there might laugh off these materials and call them cheesy, corny, etc. And they may be right... until they reach their senior years and find meaning in all of these.

Those who reflect on these seriously will have a headstart in living a more meaningful life. This is called living a life of significance. The question now is are you living it? Good to have a chat group wouldn’t you agree?

(Attend the two exciting and inspiring days of leadership training with Francis Kong in his highly acclaimed Level Up Leadership seminar-workshop on May 21-22 at Seda Vertis North, Quezon City. For registration or inquiries contact April at +63928-559-1798 or register online at www.levelupleadership.ph)