Morning Friend,
I want to tell you a story that, as crazy as it sounds, has the potential to change the world.
When my wife and I were in the hospital, preparing to have our first son, we had an interesting exchange with the lady at the finance desk.
At the time, we were living in a 1984 single wide trailer, I was working in call center, earning $11.09 an hour - and my wife was working as a dental assistant, making around $13 dollars an hour.
The lady said to us, "You know, you guys qualify for government assistance and we can help you get all these hospital bills paid for free."
We politely declined and the lady persisted.
"I don't understand, why would you pay for this baby, when you don't have to?"
"We don't need the money," we told her.
She was dumbfounded.
Paying for that baby with our own money absolutely was a stretch for us at the time, but I was thinking to myself...
"Keep it and give it to someone who really needs it."
I see the lady in my mind now, almost defiantly saying to us...
"Why won't you just take the money!?"
And I see my wife and I responding, more so with our spirits than our words...
"Because WE DON'T NEED THE MONEY!"
At the time, I'd learning a bit about politics, and where government money comes from.
2 places, mainly.
From people, you, me, our neighbors, our relatives, via taxes
From printing the money via The Federal Reserve, which essentially has the same effect as Item one, because it causes inflation which ends up making everyone's money worth less
Since I am opposed to the un-necessary, careless, wasteful use of the people's money.... (Not the governments... The people's money..
)
BIG FAT FACT: The government does not have any money. The only money they have is the stuff they take from the people.
Therefore, when you take money from the government, you're actually taking it from yourself (if you pay taxes) and all the people you know and love (who also pay taxes).
Since my wife and I were consciously aware of these facts, and also aware of the fact that the government is hopelessly in debt, with little to no hope of EVER catching up on the national debt.
We we realized that the worse this problem became, the worse our children's futures would be...
So we made a hard, but powerful decision, on principle, that we would not be a part of a problem that didn't like.
We ended up paying for the baby, continued to work hard, save money and grow our financial independence.
And today, as I write this email, I feel happy and proud in my heart that we decided to take a stand to that lady, even though it was tempting, and would have made things easier on us had we just taken t
e money.
And that leads me to the Hard lesson for Americans and maybe even the world at large.
If you don't like what's happening with the government.
The wasteful spending, the increasing authoritarian control, the hate, the divisiveness... the ridiculous nonsense that appears to be coming from child minds, trapped inside adult bodies...
The ONLY hope it seems we have, is that we as people, begin to make different choices in our own personal lives in an effort to BE THE CHANGE.
If you don't absolutely NEED the money, maybe it's better to NOT TAKE IT!
If you don't want the people to have less and less freedom, while giving the government more and more control...
Maybe it's better to NOT do things that make this problem worse.
I'm not advocating the violation of any laws here.
And I’m not criticizing or condemning people who take money that they actually need…
I am advocating the adherence to higher principles, even if it's hard.
My belief is that this is our hope, our future, our freedom.
Some people might think that it's discouraging to think that the hope of our futures, rests in the hands of the people.
I think the opposite.
I'm encouraged to know that WE can make a difference, WE can inspire change, WE can unite, in principle, to help create a better, more free and more prosperous world for ourselves and those we love.
So this is the hard lesson.
I'm so happy and thankful, my wife and I learned it, when the test of
life presented it to us.
My hope is that others will see the value in this lesson, and choose to
use it too.
All the best,
Paul
