Saturday, July 28, 2012

Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

Some Americans have a saying, "Put your money where your mouth is." Sometimes they also say, "Put up or shut up." Both have to do with gambling originally, but have come to mean something about life.


The current idea as it relates to life is, "Don't give me empty words. Show what you are saying in your actions or your behavior."


Most people do not have a good match between their ideas and what they say is right, and what they do. 


I know that I have this problem in my own life. Lately I have been trying to fix it. I wish for my entire way of life to reflect what I think and believe.

I don't feel the urge to renounce the world and hie me to a nunnery or don a yellow robe and take up a begging bowl, at this point, however.


India and China are joining the ranks of Westerners already enjoying an affluence unprecedented in human history. More people have a higher standard of living than ever before.


More people are living wastefully as well. An artist is making beautiful photographs of some of this waste that we do. An article about his work mentioned how much is wasted on a regular basis, and how much it costs.


I am very good at stretching my money, but even so, I am guilty of waste. I have been trying to change this. 


Stopping waste is good for many reasons. Some of the reasons are really important ones. If we waste food, for example, it is not simply a piece of celery that we waste. It is also the fuel it took to water it, pick it and ship it.


We are too close to WWIII over fuel. It is easy to feel helpless over this and give up trying to do anything. Most of us feel pretty insignificant. How can it matter what one insignificant person does?


Millions of insignificant people all acting together on anything can change the entire world. Perhaps it is time we made ourselves significant. 


We don't want to end our lives in a nuclear holocaust. Our lives can reflect that. One easy way for that to happen is to stop our waste. We can all put our money where our mouths are. 

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