$$ MONEY $$

Let's be honest; If someone walked up to me and handed me the above pile of Bills, even if only the top one was a Benjamin, and the rest were George's, would I not take it? I'd love to say no, but of course I would!!!

Money, I believe, is the root of 99% of all stresses and problems. Of course many other factors can cause these stresses, however most likely it could be rooted back to the one thing that drives us as human beings to do the strangest things. I searched "Money Quotes" on Google, and found a few interesting and extremely true thoughts.

"They who are of the opinion that Money will do everything, may very well be suspected to do everything for Money" ~George Savile~

You walk down the street, you see garbage cans out, sometimes overflowing and sometimes empty. A truck drives by and picks it up and takes it away. It's one of those things we take for granted. One of those jobs that "someone has to do it," but how glorious is being a Garbage man? Growing up my Dad always said things like "you better get an education, or you'll end up a Garbage man." I honestly have no problem with a person being a garbage man, but it comes down to the point of doing almost anything for money. Picking up other peoples trash and taking it to a dump (that smells horrendously), and disposing of it for them. It's a job. I guess that is the important part. However in today's age of game shows, media, and greediness, people will do literally almost anything for money. I remember seeing commercials for a recent show basically flaunting a family and their problems and dishonesty for entertainment. I don't remember if it even took off, or if it's still around, but the fact is: People will do anything for money.

Meet James......

"The only reason a great many American families don't own an elephant is that they have never been offered an elephant for a dollar down and easy weekly payments" ~Mad Magazine~

James is the name of the elephant I will have one day....................America is all about "I want the best, and I want it now!" America is (insert insanely large number) Trillions of Dollars in debt. Yet the Government bails out the car companies? I guess that doesn't really reflect the true point of this quote, but people, as an example, want cars. Nice cars. Expensive cars. Unnecessary options. I will admit, I drive a nice car. I didn't buy it, but at this point in time i'm debating on getting rid of it to help my parents out. I don't NEED a really nice car, it's not necessary. How often do we as people see something we want, and just HAVE it. "Zero interest, no payments for a year, blah blah blah...." While these stipulations may be nice, generally people fall further into debt (mainly from fine print materials) than they would have saved by not splurging unnecessarily. Who needs an elephant? Who would want an elephant? Would it be completely AWESOME to have an elephant hanging out in your back yard? YESSSSSSSSSSSSS, is it completely unnecessary!?!?! Even more so.........But they have a good point. It's never been offered. Maybe it has, i doubt it, but if it were.......I'd probably want one. Who wouldn't want a pet elephant? James would be a good elephant.

"I'd like to live as a poor man with lots of money"~Pablo Picasso~

Who WANTS to live poor? No one. Who COULD live poor, most likely everyone. People have done it for thousands of years, and we're still here. It's not preferable by any means, I would rather have money than not, but I've discovered in the past 3 or 4 weeks I can get by with almost nothing. Cutting out fast food, not buying things that I WANT (unnecessary items aka movies, music, new guitar...etc.), and just watching my budget, I've been ok. The only drawback to this is the what If's. What if something happens and I need to pay some random bill. I know however everything will be ok, even if i have to go in debt, things will work out. It's the cycle. Things have to come full circle, it's just how life goes. Life is not ALWAYS so bad for one person, good things do happen. It's hard to see those things, or realize them when it seems all is downhill, but they do and will happen. I just have to keep telling myself that. My mission President once said "Money isn't the most important thing in the world, but it's great not having to worry about it." You don't HAVE to live the life of a rich person if you are rich, in fact I wouldn't. But having money to do what you need and support yourself and family without problems, that would be great.

Life is not meant to be lived in fear, stressed, in sorrow and depression. Life is meant to be enjoyed, as hard as that can be at times. Because of financial stresses on my family right now, I have let my guard down and let these stresses get to me. I've been debating making some major changes in my life because of this, but perhaps these stresses were the reason.

Only God knows how much my life needs to change, He and I both do. Maybe he is letting things happen to help me on my way during this time of my life, to change some things to help me progress beyond where I am now. Being stale is getting old, and changes are needed, and hopefully on their way. I'm not sure exactly which changes yet, I have made a list of pros and cons about one big change that would completely alter how I live life currently, and right now the change is looking more positive than negative. Of course if these changes occur, I will update to the 2 or 3 people that read this blog................:)