I have too much stuff.
This comes not as a dawning revelation. I’ve probably been aware of it for some time, but have ignored it because having stuff has met another need in my life. There were times when I haven’t had stuff. There were other times when I’ve only been able to afford less than quality stuff, stuff that is, or was, at best mediocre.
But really, why does one man need thirty-seven t-shirts?
A new method of cleaning one’s space involves taking all the items off your shelves, placing them in a pile in the middle of your room and then going through them, one by one. If it inspires joy, you keep it. If not, out it goes. Hence, not so many t-shirts. Or socks.
Or books, it turns out.
Part of what is driving this is a reevaluation of what priorities matter. I’ve stepped back to consider those projects in progress.
My YA novel HEX is a mess. I started workshopping it with a writing group over three month period, and I totally lost it in that time. I took so many of their suggestions to heart that I lost my confidence in the story I wanted to tell. So it’s now in a drawer, cooling off, waiting for me to return to it, probably in 2Q of 2019.
My novelization of The Agency for Think Alike Productions is in the midst of its final draft. We’ve negotiated my split for compensation from sales of the book and percentage off the back end as the IP goes onto other media based on my work. We’ll be looking for an editor early in 2Q of 2019.
I’d like to return to the Triangle series. I have the plot for the third novel, as well as a prequel, but I’d like to do some travel for research. Pam and I are discussing a trip to Europe for this. Brexit may complicate this.
The Finder’s Keeper online story has been on hold for quite some time. It needs a resolution, but I was writing it on a tightrope, a week at a time, and I frankly am not sure where it will go from here. It may be an unfinished story for a while longer.
Finally, there is the Tao of Maud. I’ll write a post that details the experiences I had in December regarding the decision to continue that project. But it does, for another year, under modified design. However, it is part of the consideration of what brings me joy. Considering all the attacks, it no longer does.
That should tell me something going forward.
The One About… Values Meals
Victoria & Albert’s tab, April 2018 (Rich Vogel / Facebook)
Had the most fascinating discussion on Facebook recently.
A gentleman posted his receipt from a few months back for his visit to Victoria & Albert’s. If you’re unfamiliar, this restaurant is a fine dining experience located in the Grand Floridian Resort at Walt Disney World. I’ve never dined there myself, but I’ve been informed it is quite the culinary experience.
Anyway, the post was a revelation. For a party of two, with tax and tip, this bill came to just under $1600. To put that in perspective, that is 2.7% of the Median Household Income in 2016, the last year reported by the Census Bureau.
Reactions ran all across the spectrum, from sticker shock to envy, from agreement on how amazing the experience it was to some people boasting about their ability to do this multiple times.
But one person surprised me. He was one of those multiple visitors to this restaurant, and his response was quite defensive. He stated that those who have never visited it should be quiet because they had no idea what the experience was like.
Now, V&A is obviously a gateway experience, based on wealth. But to say someone shouldn’t be allowed to make a statement is strikingly elitist. And what was more amazing was when I dug a bit further into the identity of the person making this post on Facebook, he was revealed to be… wait for it… the youth minister at a Christian church in Tennessee.
Now, I do not purport to be a Christian myself, but I try to respect the teachings of Christ. Moreso, apparently, than this lay minister, since he’s forgotten Matthew 19:24.
I sometimes believe I have a grasp on the modern evangelical Christian movement in America, especially with its preoccupation around the prosperity gospel. Wealth has worked for centuries through various versions of Christianity as a yardstick makes for an easy, tangible measurement of blessings. No matter how many times that message and ideal has been disavowed and chastised by faith leaders throughout the community, it always seems to return. Why?
My best guess is that it is easy to delude yourself while you indulge in $1600 meals that you’re also doing some good on the side – like, oh, part-time work as a youth pastor at a very wealthy, very well-off church. I’m sure he probably donates to just the right charities – not ones that make any real difference, mind you, but ones that make him feel like his avarice is well-earned.
Wealth might open opportunities to experience things in life, but it is your choices among those things that show what you value and make you better. You do indeed have the option to spend $1600 repeatedly on a single meal, over and over, for a couple. Or you could do that once, mark it as an experience accomplished, and then use those funds earmarked on other priorities. For example… how many meals would that $1600 have purchased at the local food bank in your hometown?
It comes down to what you value. Or don’t.
I speak from experience. I’ve made too many bad choices in this lifetime at the height of my own prosperity to know it. Perhaps my mistakes might inform someone else’s choices.
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