identity

I can't hold it in any longer--I'm gonna turn "spider monkey" on someone!

After weeks of trying to make sense of all the chaos on Wall Street... in the country... on Main Street, I've finally figured it out: We've lost ourselves. We've forgotten who we are.

While canning peaches, beets and blanching zucchini, I've been listening to Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck talk about the housing crisis and the banking crisis and corrupt Wall Street, and how we've turned the American dream of owning a home from the privilege that it is, into an entitlement. I completely agree! Somehow, no matter how little you make, or how seldom you might be able to make a payment, you deserve a home. And Mr. Stupid Bank, over there, will lend you the money because he wants to be "nice". The suggestion that you may not make enough money to make payments would be discrimination--we can't have that. (eye roll) I've heard the problem is that we, as a society in general, have become too nice and that, perhaps, we need to stop giving every kid on the soft ball team an award, so to speak. Here's my favorite thought on being nice:

"C.S. Lewis praises courage as the virtue that protects all other virtues. That is, it is courage which enables us to be truthful when speaking the truth may be risky; it is courage that backs up loyalty when loyalty is unpopular; it is certainly courage which makes patriotism meaningful in times of danger. By the same logic, I believe it is niceness which can corrupt all the other virtues. Niceness edits the truth, dilutes loyalty, makes a caricature of patriotism, hobbles justice, short-circuits honor, and counterfeits mercy, compassion and love."

(Elouise Bell, BYU today, January 1991)

So much for being nice. This $700 Billion bail out plan is just biding time until after the election (when the nice politicians can stop lying), then things are going to get a lot worse, I predict. And all because we've lost ourselves & panic. PANIC, thus creating a self-fulfilling prophesy--"If Dodge is gonna crash & burn, I'd better get out of Dodge now!" Hello, people! The stock market is a loooooooooong term investment, not a get-rich-quick scheme. The stock market crash of '29 took almost three years to hit rock bottom, and today we are just one or two "events" away from trouble. With the DOW free-falling the way it has been what would happen if we had another Katrina? another terrorist attack? or a political scandal?

But we've forgotten who we are. I was having a conversation with my dear friend, Rosann, a while back about the housing crisis. We found it interesting how many people get their "identity" from their homes, and that when someone else, the Jones' gets a bigger or better home, they too feel the need to upgrade. How did this happen? Personally, I blame the media and/or Hollywood... but only to a degree. Every movie, t.v. show or even commercial is decked out with top quality must have items, and it gives the illusion that these things are, or should be, easily obtained. If you're anybody note worthy. The commercialism simply. never. stops. *CHA-CHING* We buy stuff. Do we really need this much "stuff" (on "credit"-haha) in our lives? Is it really that important--our appearance to others? However, ultimately, we need to own the responsibility of our actions. When did a simple, modest home of basically 4 walls and a roof become not enough? People are trying so hard to get their identity, or fill a void, from their stuff; their homes, that they are foreclosing and losing everything. Including themselves.

So what gives us our identity? Is it our talents? What happens when some body else takes up that talent--maybe even excels at it--do we feel lost, give it up or move onto another one? Do we get identity from our kids? Personally, here's where I have a struggle, because I believe that my children are a reflection of my parenting. I take pride in their accomplishments and our futures are intertwined. Much of my identity is in being a parent. I've never hung my identity on my home though. I like decorating, but our home is a small, modest 30 year old rambler--that I hope to grow old in. But I'm more than a mother, a teacher, a wife, an artist. I was somebody before I had children, before all of that. Then, the other day, it dawned on me--"that's it! I'm a spiritual child of Heavenly Father. THAT is who I am to my core." Who we ALL are--to our very core! We, as a country, just need to remember that. It is exactly It's a Wonderful Life in real life! We are rich when we can love and are loved.

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

(Matthew 6: 19-21)

I know society would be a heck of a lot happier if we simply remembered who we are and trusted in God and not man (or bank, or Mr. Bigwig). We are all children of God, and that will never change.