Latter Day Sinner

I have been poor or mostly poor all my life. By American standards that usually hasn’t been too bad. I’ve lived with food insecurity but have never been in danger of starving. I’ve missed rent a few times but never been homeless. And I’ve always had clothes even if some of them were ragged or hand-me-downs. Still if there is one thing I’d like to try I would like to be rich. I’d like to pay off my debts and have the ability to help with the debts of family and friends. I’d like to get a new wardrobe. I haven’t gotten a new suit since my twenties. I’d like to get my teeth fixed. I’d like to be able to pay the people who work with my boys what they are worth instead of relying on the state. For that matter I’d like to rely on the state much less in general. All that takes money. All my life I’ve heard, “If you have love you are rich.” But love doesn’t pay a telephone bill. It’s also said that a true test of a man’s character is in abundance not poverty. In poverty a man will do desperate things for desperate reasons. In abundance a man has a choice to live as he pleases and that is a truer test. Lord do I want that test.