Learning to Make Do

I really am tired of being poor. Even as I say that I realize that I have so much – but life is not as easy as it once was. I don’t have everything that I want. I don’t have spare money around as I once did. I can’t always find more when and where I want it.

I can say like the Apostle Paul that I have learned to be content in whatever situation I find myself in. I can take being rich and I can take being poor. I really think that this is true for me, but, if I am honest, I am more content when I am on the rich side. How did I get this way? I certainly have never really been rich. For that matter, I never really have been poor either.

I guess my “poverty” was most real when I was a very small child in the aftermath of the Great Depression and the beginnings of World War II. I can remember living in Miami Beach Florida where my father worked as a valet parking lot attendant for a big night spot. His pay consisted only of tips. My mother and father would count the tips when he got home at night – this determined what we ate the next day. As the war began, my father did construction work for the military. This was really the only construction going on. We traveled like what we were; migrant workers. We lived on military bases in worker camps. If not on the base, we lived wherever we could find a place. We really were poor. But, I didn’t know it. I was happy. My family loved me. I was content.

I think that the time that I really got tired of being poor was in college. Fortunately the actual cost of college wasn’t prohibitive. I will really be the envy of current students and parents. When I started UCLA, the cost per semester was $50 which included football tickets (this also meant the Rose Bowl when we went in 1956). Of course, I had to live somewhere, eat and buy books. I did receive a small stipend from a scholarship fund. During the summer, I worked on the assembly line at Ford Automotive – working there was always an incentive to return to school in the fall. During the school year, I worked at a sorority as a hasher. I set tables, served, did dishes and a little short order cooking for breakfast. I did alright, but was always short of money.

In my senior year, I started to think about what was next. My major was Zoology, but my course was pre-med. Of course, like any good pre-med, I took the required tests and began the application process for medical school. I was well into this, even to the extent of receiving invitations to interview at two fairly prestigious schools. I have to admit that I was intimidated. But, more than that, I was tired of being poor. Medical school looked like such a long process. Of course looking back, it was pretty short. Anyway, I chucked it all and ultimately joined the Navy.

I never made a lot of money, but I was always comfortable. This was true both in the Navy and in the Pastorate. Sometimes we didn’t have enough. Sometimes we were ok. We never had a real abundance, but it was ok. Then came retirement! We really hadn’t prepared very well for this. That is our/my fault. Now we are poor. Of course, we aren't really poor. How could I look at real poverty in the US or around the world and say that I am poor? I just don’t have enough to satisfy me. Having said that, I also need to say that my God is good and faithful. Somehow, we are making it. I have my wife. I have my health. I have wonderful children and grandchildren. I have the privilege of serving in a great little church. Come to think of it, I have everything. I am a rich man!