Are you a pie person, or a bakery person?
A pie person sees just one pie, for all of us to share. This one pie, in their eyes, must be closely watched and fairly divided. They see some people with more than their “fair share” of the pie, and, if without any governing power, compare it to their own small slice and seethe with anger about “unfair” capitalism and their inability to get a bigger piece of the pie. In their mind, they don’t have a bigger slice because someone else has a bigger piece. It’s someone else’s fault that their own piece of the pie is so small.
If you are in a position of power with the ability to make laws for our land and you are a pie person, then you write laws regulating how much of the pie each one of us can have. You take away from rightful owners slices of the “one and only pie” to give to me and others a thin slice. Never giving enough, though, to fully satisfy.
If, however, you are a bakery person, you see many, many pies, and more just waiting to be made. For you, there isn’t just one pie, for all of us to share, but an infinite supply of pies just waiting to be created. You work and dream and plan a way to bake your own pie, that you may enjoy and share as you see fit.
I was reminded yesterday of Michelle Obama’s comment she made back during the campaign, that “someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more”. I’m reading a little gem of a book right now that talks about wealth and riches, and the acquiring of such. This author, who wrote this book in 1910, believes that the supply of riches is “inexhaustible”, and we don’t need to take somebody else’s wealth in order to have some of our own. “No one is kept in poverty by a shortness in the supply of riches; there is more than enough for all”.
His thinking appeals to me much more than Michelle Obama’s. I prefer to be free to make my own pie, and have the whole pie, and then make even more pies, and share with others as I am guided to, rather than having lawmakers in Washington take some of someone else’s pie and give me a small bit of it. Or take some of the pie that I worked so hard on.
No, I’m claiming the American Dream for myself. While I still can.
Off to the bakery.
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Hey pup, what a great story and what a great tie-in to what Michelle said. I totally concur. I have been pondering though, just for myself, if I had been born another color and lived through some of the same things, if I would have the same kind of thinking? Oh yeah…(light bulb moment) I HAVE had the same kind of thinking! But there was a day when I “woke up” and discovered that self-pity and envy were not serving me well. Michelle complaining about having to pay back her school loans while millions of others do….well, I don’t think that will serve her well either.
The biblical mandate to give to others “as you have purposed in your heart” applies to the individual, not to government and is not about other people’s money. I reiterate, my family’s giving is way higher than the Obama’s…and we are WAY below their income level. I believe one needs to be willing to give away one’s own money before they start looking at everyone else’s. Charity starts at home.
Thanks Kathy! Thanks for coming back. I’m glad you agree; it’s nice to know that there are others with the same beliefs.
Great comment, too! Appreciate it.
Good post and I agree, there isn’t anything that we can’t do if we only set our mind to do it! But really I’m not so sure that I would be happy rich, rather have enough to live on without worrying but rich would make me worry about losing those riches!
Yes, being really rich would come with its own set of problems. I might be willing though, to see what those problems would be.
Seriously, like you, I just want enough to live and take care of my family, and I want it to be income I earn, not money given to me by the government.
Thanks for the visit and the comment!
As I dust off my apron from making my own pie~ I love this post! I think that the Left is in a box or better yet wears blinders and is unaware of the world beyond their viewing area.
I do not like to label or generalize, but to take from some to give to another creeps me out. But I promise you one thing, I am rich beyond measure, yet my riches cannot be divided as these riches lie in my heart and from my Saviour. Perhaps this is the great mystery of the Left, the thinking that we simple folk need money to fill us…because it works for them.
When one is empty no amount of money will be enough. When one is full, no amount of money holds them back…does this make sense? I am sure it does, but I am sitting at the computer at 11:42 pm so who knows!
Jennifer
Jennifer,
I love your comment! You’re absolutely right, our true wealth cannot be appropriated for someone else. I love that concept, and thank you for verbalizing it.
Some of the people I know who see just one big pie, and don’t feel like they have enough of it, seem to go through their days with resentment and frustration as their constant companions, and I think it is because they don’t have a “firm foundation” that is always there, no matter what the bank statement says. I feel very sorry for them.
You said it perfectly, “when one is empty no amount of money will be enough.”
Thank you for coming back, and for your great addition to my post. Have a wonderful day!
Pup
As I tried unsuccessfully to explain in 140 characters spurts (twitter), I find this story very comforting, like a feel good story you tell children so they grow without a sense of fear and deprivation. It’s great that we live in a country where only a minority of children have to confront that reality of fear and deprivation in their daily lives (25% live in poverty) and I have no argument about protecting those who can grow in a safe and supportive environment. But this is an adult forum, I assume, and I am interested in understanding reality and act responsibly with an informed mind. In that sense this story about pies vs. the bakery does not match a world of limited resources, and increasing inequality, so I have difficulty staying within the analogy while attempting to reflect reality.
For once pies are baked to feed not to hoard. There is no incentive in hoarding a thousand pies after you consumed enough to give you indigestion. They’ll go bad! Furthermore, and connecting with my research about inequality, what is really happening is that those who 30 years ago took home 1000 pies everyday, are now taking 5000, and yet their flower bill has gone up only twice, leaving the rest of the bill to those who used to take home one pie, and now have to make do with half.
Sorry to intrude in your happy talk of motherhood and apple pie, but if this is about life liberty and the pursuit of happiness (as the header suggests), as you drive down the yellow brick road on your perfectly safe SUV, try to mind those who are struggling along the way on bycicles or on foot; there are more and more of them thanks to the last 30 years of happy talk and tax cuts for the rich.
For a substantive discussion on economic realities you can find my position documented in indjunjoe.blogspot.com.
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