You Can’t Eat Money

Money, money, money and nothing to buy. You can’t eat money.

We’re a decadent society.

We’re rich and fat and unhappy, even if we don’t realize it. If having plenty to eat isn’t considered a blessing, just wait until you don’t have anything to eat.

Suddenly money seems like a mere piece of paper.

My grandparents went through the Great Depression. My grandfather experienced several winters where the family had little else to eat but the turnips in their root cellar. He never recovered from the trauma of food shortage.

As I watch the horrors of the Ukraine unfold on a daily basis, my grandfather’s face appears before me. He’s reminding me that food scarcity is alive and well in the world. Suddenly, I feel so vulnerable.

My grandfather’s sense of security was attached to a larder full of food as much if not more than a bank full of money. In fact, he didn’t really trust banks at all. His sense of well being came almost entirely from an abundance of food. So, they raised a huge garden. They canned and froze food. They bought dry goods and other essentials in bulk from the local grocery store. They raised chickens and gathered eggs. They had cows that provided milk. They raised pigs for meat. They had fruit trees and grape arbors.

There was never a time that I went to their house that they didn’t have enough food to feed a large family for over a year.

I don’t think that was an uncommon practice back in the day. People were more self reliant. My grandmother sewed her own dresses and aprons. My grandfather could repair almost anything. They had skills that have largely been lost from modern society.

We act as though the modern life we enjoy has always been around and as though it will be here forever.

And, then, we see something like what’s happening in the Ukraine and suddenly we realize that this age of modern conveniences and consumerism is fragile an unreliable.

It bothers us.

We lose sleep. We realize our money isn’t safe and that only paper money gives us access to everything we need. Everything. That’s scary, too.

We know that if war broke out we’d be up a shit crick without a paddle and with nothing to eat.

And who’s to say what tomorrow holds. Certainly, modern man hasn’t discovered a different way other than war to solve disagreements. We haven’t mastered the art of diplomacy. We’re still not very good at sharing. We hoard and waste and create an imbalance where some of us are fat and overfed and others are starving.

Money is great as long as there’s something left to buy.

Yeah, I had hoped that by now we wouldn’t be fighting wars. I mean, why? War never solves anything. Its a major polluter. It’s a seriously poor use of natural resources. It destroys our better accomplishments like art and archetecture. It hurts little children which we all claim to love. Violence begets more violence.

That’s it.

I already knew that. Didn’t you? Why do we delude ourselves into thinking that we don’t need to prepare for anything any longer? Why do we hoard money but waste food? Why do we think that a big house and a snazzy car will be better for us than clean drinking water and good food? We have things ass backwards. We don’t understand our most basic needs any longer.

Maybe it’s time to start thinking differently about money.

Teresa Roberts is a retired educator, author, world traveler, and professional myth buster. You can find her books on Amazon.