A Good Pruning

When I prune my shrubs and trees, it seems painful at the time. Large branches fall and there are large piles of debris to be cleared away. Sometimes, someone comes by and says "Wow - are you sure you should be cutting that much off?" But the next year, those trees and shrubs looks great. They are healthy, well groomed, and just the right size for my yard.

Could it be that this economic downturn is like a good pruning? That what remains will be healthier and much better than before? If I didn't prune my shrubs, they would get large, uneven, and unsightly - growing in places I don't want them to grow. What if that is what is happening to us right now?

What if this economy is just a reflection of unhealthy, ungainly growth? Growth based upon deficit spending with no way to pay. Consumers just buying things on credit and worrying about the payments later. Homeowners with mortgages and no reasonable way to make the payments. After all, what good lender approves a loan with no verification that the monthly payments can be paid? Or that the borrower is telling the truth about their income? Maybe it's good that such lenders fail...

What if the result of this is that people learn to buy things with cash, not credit? What if they learn to save and not borrow for everything? To actually put money aside for an emergency or for a rainy day? Or to actually verify income and their ability to make the payments on a home mortgage? Wow - who would've thought?

When things get easy for long periods of time, we have a natural tendency to get very lazy and complacent and we begin making assumptions that probably aren't true. We start putting our trust in things based on quicksand instead of real security. We forget that bad things can happen and when they do, we are shocked instead of prepared.

I hope that as the result of this pruning, we rethink our priorities, we readjust our values and we change where we look for security. Each of us has our own values and priorities for our lives. But it seems to me that the things I've mentioned could be embraced by everyone with tremendous benefit to all. I think it's a better way to live.

Can you fix it?

The dishwasher just broke and it won't run anymore.  The brakes on the car are making that awful sound for about a week now.  The computer keeps getting this pop up that just won't go away.  The more things we have, the more things break!  

So what do you do about it?  Call a repairman or bring it to the shop?  That's expensive.  Fix it yourself?  "No way," you say!  You don't know how those things work, so there's no way that you can fix them.  You feel trapped with no way out.

One of the better "life skills" that I was taught is how to fix things.  My Dad taught me much of what I know.  Car things.  House things.  Toys.  Motorcycles.  Electrical things. Lots of things.  

I was also given an inquisitive nature when I was a child.  I was always taking things apart to see how they worked and then tried to put them back together again.  Sometimes they worked again - sometimes not.  But Dad would help me or tell me what I did wrong and how to make it better again.

This ability to fix things has paid huge dividends over the years.  When things break - which they always do - I usually have a better than 50/50 shot at being able to repair it myself.  And when I do, it saves a TON of money!  How many times do we just cringe at the rates for a service call and wish that we could do it our self?

This is especially true for car repair.  I am now able to repair about 3/4 of my issues that come up on my cars.  This really helps because I buy used cars and then keep them up myself.  It's a great combination - see my article here.  

I will also be teaching my kids how to do basic repair on their own cars.  When they start driving, I feel it is essential to understand some basics about the mechanics underneath so that they have some level of understanding when something breaks.  This will save them tons over the years of car ownership and will also give them the ability to talk with mechanics when they need to.  They don't have to be able to fix everything.  But they do need to understand simple things like the battery, the brakes, the tire pressure, oil changes, air filter changes, etc. Then having some level of theory on how an engine works, how an air conditioner works, how a transmission works will pay huge dividends when troubles come up.  Depending on their interest and their mechanical aptitude, I could teach them much more.

As for things around the house, I will try to teach my kids as much as possible.  Sometimes they're not interested, sometimes they are.  But that's because they don't yet know that they need to be able to do these things themselves at some level someday.  Or maybe they'll marry a man who can do this himself - who knows.  I hope the fathers of my daughters' future husbands are teaching them how to do these things, along with many other life skills.

If you don't know how to do some of these things already, then take a few minutes to learn something each time something needs repairing.  There are tons of places on the web that show how to fix specific things.  But more importantly, let's teach our kids how to fix things.  It's a better way!

He will keep me awake at night

No matter who gets elected on Tuesday, neither one will get everything right in my opinion.  Neither one has all the answers that I am looking for and neither one will fix what's ailing our economy.  However, one has the potential to keep me up at night extremely concerned and angry over the consequences.

It won't be his tax policy.  Even though I don't agree with it, I will probably still sleep sleep at night.  It won't be his medical policy.  Again, I don't agree with it, but I will sleep at night.  It won't be his foreign policy.  I don't agree with it, but I think I will still sleep.  

It will be his moral policies that keep me awake at night.  His insistence for "a women's right to choose" along with the makeup of Congress that will keep me awake.  How will I sleep when the person in the highest office of our country wants to pass laws to "protect" an individual's ability to kill a baby - their very own baby?  Why is there this "god" in his belief system that a woman must have the ability to terminate her unintended pregnancy with a simple choice?  Why is the life of this child not protected in our country and in our government?  Just because a child is invisible to the eye and completely dependant on their mother, doesn't make him or her less of a person.  Doesn't he believe that this person in the womb has the right to choose anything?  Ever?  How about the right of a child to take their first breath?  I believe this right exists!

His judicial choices will also keep me awake at night because it is our supreme court justices who have made this current ruling in our country.  There is no doubt in my mind that there will be new justices appointed during this next presidential term and they have the power to interpret the Constitution through their own world view.  The impact of their decisions will affect generations to come - both my children's and my grand children's generations.

This is why I will be voting for the soldier.  He is the one who has fought for our country and has placed his life on the line so that others can have life.  He understands the value of life and what price has been paid and must continue to be paid to protect it.  And, I will be able to sleep at night.