Friday, November 15, 2013

Are you wealthy?

How do you measure wealth?


I suppose one way to measure wealth is to look at net worth...the dollars and cents of what we have.  Let's be clear and at the risk of sounding flippant, having a positive net worth sure does make life easier.  Life is expensive!  Shoes cost money.  My wife and I have a mortgage.  We like to go on vacations with our family.  We've never been hungry.

As I'm writing this, my building is about to host a day we are calling Wear a "Hat to Help" The Philippines.  In response to the devatsating typhoon damage in that country, we encourage our students to wear a hat at school (not a regular privilege) and bring a dollar or two to donate to The American Red Cross.  We will probably raise about $500 today, and our students are learning that even the smallest efforts can make a difference in our world.  We've used this model in the past to collect money for different efforts in our community, our country, and around the world.

Statistics show our country is so wealthy, and there's always more we can do to help the less fortunate.  I'm not convinced, however, that true wealth is simply based on how much money you have or don't have.

My Uncle Ralph (actually, my great uncle--my grandmother's brother) was a shoemaker.  Born in the early 1900's on a homestead claim in Oklahoma, he was one of the oldest people I ever knew, and he was a genuine cobbler.  He repaired shoes.  He and his wife, my Aunt Edith, raised three children in central Kansas on what Uncle Ralph earned in his shop and Aunt Edith made as a cook at the local elementary school.  They both worked at odd jobs, as well.  They worked together to clean their church for extra money.  Edith took in sewing and laundry.  Ralph delivered newspapers.  In fact, Uncle Ralph sold any extra newspapers on his front porch.  He attached a small, metal Band-Aid box to his front screen door.  Passersby would take a paper off the porch and put the coins in the Band-Aid box. 

Uncle Ralph and Aunt Edith, by all of the financial standards of today, were not wealthy.  But, they were the happiest people I ever knew.

What they had, they shared.  What they needed, they had.  What they wanted didn't really matter.

After helping Ralph deliver newspapers one early morning (He dutifully folded each paper and placed it exactly where each customer wanted it.), I questioned why he couldn't just throw the papers on his customers' porches like every other delivery person.  His response has stuck with me for more than 30 years. 

"David, you should measure your wealth not by your checkbook but by your address book."

When I was 10 I didn't really understand what this statement meant, but it means more to me today than almost anything I know.

In this Thanksgiving season and with life going by so fast, I am grateful.  I am grateful for my family and faith. I am grateful for friends--old and new.  I am grateful to have a job and career where I get to work with truly remarkable children, parents, and educators.  I am grateful that my "address book" is filled each day with people who enter my life and make me a better person.  Of course, we might not always agree, and sometimes the stressors of the day get the better of me.  Still, I'm grateful.  I'm grateful that I can rely on those people in my "address book" to help me reframe those stressors and learn to find the good in what we have...right now.


Update...Since I first started writing this entry, our day at school has been busy.  We wore "Hats to Help" The Philippines where we raised $1484 to help victims of the storm!  This obviously exceeded my expectations.  In addition, we held a leadership assembly where two of our kindergarten classes presented how to work together.  You can watch that presenation here.  Midway through the song, a colleague leaned over and whispered, "This is why we do what we do!"


What they had, they shared. What they needed, they had. What they wanted didn't really matter.

I am a wealthy person.

Happy Thanksgiving...all year long.