Wealth (Updated from 6/17/2013)

“Everyone wants to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.”

-- Oprah Winfrey

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Note to my readers:  I went back to the beginning of my blog, June of 2013.  I overlooked my first true post when I was updating some of the best.  Well, it isn't the best, but it is, what I consider, my first.  I've updated it with some remembered material.  I hope you enjoy the read.

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What makes you happy?  For many, the road to happiness is paved with money.  I think we all know, by now, that money can’t buy true and lasting happiness, but, it sure does make it easier to relax. 

Before I retired to Mexico at the beginning of 2011, I struggled with the fact that I was going to be living on what my ex-wife didn’t “appropriate” from my military retirement in 2000.  There wasn't much to take, but she took half because she could.  Such is the inequity of the law, even if your wife admits to never loving you.  It is what it is, or was, or whatever.  Good riddance.

Mexico, in 2011, was still a pretty good deal, and I was going to be working for my room at my girlfriend Terry’s ranch, in Manzanillo.    That helped, but you still have to buy food, meds, and essentials, like beer and tequila, not to mention saving for airfare to come and go to the states if needed.  Being debt free, however, made it so much easier. 

I was amazed at how little I actually needed to be comfortable.  It is a change of mindset that entertainment alters as you get older.  Me, being in Mexico, I finally found the time to write a novel, and I also found that I loved to write.  I finished the "novel" 500 pages later and began writing a second.  I also discovered that having money wasn’t necessary for my happiness.  It is necessary for my survival, yes, but not to be happy.  In 2011, I discovered I had been exceedingly happy for about 11 years.  Who knew?

Other than writing and keeping the ranch clean, what made me feel complete was creating a shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe as a gift to Terry.  It was located as you come to the end of the ranch parking area.  You park near the patio and can head toward the rooms and the stairs to the pool.  The shrine could be seen the minute you parked.  People would come to use the pool, and I was very proud when several older women broke off from their family group in order to visit the shrine, cross themselves and say a short prayer, or light a candle.  I smiled with a modest sense of pride.  I had done well in my effort.

When I was called out of retirement and back to Washington state to work on the Country Club project in Olympia, I agreed to do it for a fair wage.  I knew in my heart, though, that I didn’t need the job.  I would be just as happy lying in the hammock around the pool at the ranch, finishing the second novel, and drinking "Victoria" beer.  I do what I do because I want to, not because I have to.  Work makes me happy, it always has, and I have fun doing it.  I have fun, now, because I have found I really don't need the money.  What little retirement the judge and the government saw fit to leave me with seems to be enough.

Dad had a stroke and I had to leave the Country Club project and move to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi.  He passed in 2019, but he put up a good fight for a few years, as he always did.

Now, in 2023, I’m wealthy, rich beyond my wildest dreams in 2001.  I have my health, my children, my grandchildren, my mother, Terry, and other family and friends. This is wealth that money just can’t provide, and it's wealth that makes me happy, and wealth that money just can't buy.

Have you considered what makes you happy?  I'll just bet, it really isn't money.

“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”

-- Epictetus

 

Editor's Note

(Re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card)

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider an alternate viewpoint. 

I fervently hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and while engaging in peaceful and constructive discussion, in an arena of mutual respect, concerning those opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we learn from the experience, and what we do afterward.

Pastor Tony spent 22 years with the United States Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, instructor, and, finally, a senior manager. He spent 17 years, following his service career, working with the premier, world-renowned, Western Institutional Review Board helping to protect the rights of human subjects involved in pharmaceutical research.

Ordained 1n 2013 as an "interfaith" minister, he founded the Congregation for Religious Tolerance in response to intolerance shown by Christians toward peaceful Islam. As the weapon for his war on intolerance he chose the pen, and wages his "battle" in the guise of the Congregation's official online blog, The Path, of which he is both author and editor. "The Path" offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination for us all. He currently resides in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he volunteered as the lead chaplain at a regional medical center.

Feel free to contact Pastor Tony: tolerantpastor@gmail.com