I watched a bit of Oprah this week. She had a financial planning guru as her guest who was admonishing any one who would listen to smarten up, there's no excuse to be drowning in debt, people! It was a seminar of sorts aiming to wake people up to the difference between their needs and their wants.
She posed a challenge to the audience members to go home and do three things : 1. For one day this week buy nothing. 2.For one week dont use any credit cards. 3. For one month dont eat out in restaurants. What was amazing to me was the looks of incredulity and outright alarm as the cameras panned the assembly. You'd think they were being asked to throw their firstborn to the lions. The guru asked for a show of hands as to how many would commit to this regimen and timidly a smattering of them raised a hand slowly to shoulder level. And these were people with self admitted debt problems.I guess I'm seriously out of touch with their reality...I thought home cooking and sewing and gardening and bartering and living within our means and such was more or less normal. I'm sure we have friends who think its normal. It was a real eye opener to realise that this mostly female audience would think us all very deprived and odd indeed.
I guess NORMAL is not the AVERAGE....
ReplyDeleteIt is a sad state of affairs this old world has gotten itself into, isn't it?? .... Scary...
People have a lot of waking up to do!!!
Good post, Thanks!!
I think Gwen is right - it's just that normal isn't the average anymore.
ReplyDeleteI even know people who travel from here in the UK to the US to go clothes shopping - how extravagant is that?! I'd like to point out that I merely know them - I didn't say I was friends with them.
Ha, made me laugh. There's many days in a row I don't buy anything, many weeks in a row that I don't use a credit card, and lord knows the last time I even went for fast food, let alone go to a restaurant. I must really be odd.
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