Give it Away, Give it Away, Give it Away Now

We are constantly told to be grateful.  We have so much abundance in our lives, and we should be grateful to god, or the universe or other people, for all we have.  And really, if you're reading my blog, you have access to some kind if electronic device with Internet access, and you are literate, so you are probably better off than the vast majority if the world's population. Still, even in the midst of all this abundance, most of us don't feel rich.  Are we just ungrateful, superficial materialists with an insatiable need to acquire more stuff?  Or are we never quite sure we have enough to get us through whatever life flings at us?  People come to me and ask how much money they need to retire, and really, the answer to that depends in large part on how long they plan to live.  There's no way of knowing for certain that you have enough, so in essence, we are all somewhere on the continuum between feeling pretty sure we'll be ok, and being absolutely panicked at all times.   

The other night I watched a movie called In Time, staring Justin Timberlake.  Short version:  Bleak, alternate reality in which people have digital clocks embedded in their arms, which start ticking at age 25, counting down one year, after which the clock stops, and the person dies.  It seemed like it was just a Logan's Run remake, but the twist is that time is the currency of this alternate world.  People are paid in time for their work, so they can extend their lives, and time is used to pay for things (Coffee costs 4 minutes, the bus costs 2 hours, a very fancy sports car costs 57 years).  No one ages; they all look 25 and beautiful forever.  The very rich live in a different time-zone, they have the luxury of doing things slowly, and they control the cost of all goods, so the poor can never rise above their circumstances  (kind of how the evil Cohaagen controlled oxygen on Mars in Total Recall).   One day, a very wealthy man who has tired of living after 100 years, gives Timberlake his remaining116 years and then dies, leaving Timberlake, who has always barely subsisted on less than a day, to suddenly ponder abundance.   After hanging out in the time zone of the wealthy and enjoying some pleasures and comforts, he eventually realizes abundance can be empty and meaningless, and the only real pleasure is the joy of giving it away to others.  So Timberlake hooks up with a beautiful, but sad heiress and they go on a Bonnie & Clyde style rampage to redistribute the wealth to the masses.

Is this the best movie ever made? No, but stick with me, there's a point to all this.

Back in our own world, we don't have a time stamp we can look at, and we'll never know for sure if we're going to run out of time or money first.  Even though running out of money doesn't mean you die, the idea feels pretty scary.  So how much is enough? I once watched an episode of Mr. Roger's neighborhood with one of my kids, and he explained that it's nice when you have enough for yourself and also some to share with someone else.

I wasn't in a great mood today.  I had a lot of things to take care of, including getting rid of some old stuff that was left over from a bathroom remodel. I gave a sink away to  a really nice woman who answered my Craigslist post under Free Stuff.  She could hardly believe I was really going to give her a sink for free, and she was so happy!  She thanked me profusely, and then she gave me a great big hug.  Made me feel so good.  

I guess I should feel grateful to the universe for blessing me with an abundance of sinks, but right now I just feel grateful for that hug.