Living For Today or Preparing For A Rainy Day

Most days I try to do my shopping early in the day. Occasionally that doesn't happen and I find myself at the grocery store between 5pm and 6pm. This seems to be the time of day that folks stop on their way home from work to pick up what they need for the evening meal. I have never, ever, in my adult life, not had a stocked pantry and freezer from which I could select what I needed for a meal. I do not understand folks who seem to routinely stop on their way home to pick up that evening's dinner.

Do they not think ahead? What if they have an interruption in their paycheck? What if there is a disaster of some sort that makes getting to the grocery store impossible?

There was a time when no self respecting woman would allow herself to not have a well stocked pantry. It was just common sense. Part of being prepared for a rainy day so to speak. Now it seems that there are those who look on the idea of having more on hand than one needs for a day or a week to be hoarding!

Where do these ideas come from? Why do folks buy into them? How many emergency or desperate situations have been created merely because someone did not look to the future and plan ahead? Have we become so placid as to think that someone else will take care of us if we hit a bump in the road of life? Do we no longer believe we are responsible for our own well being?

I fully understand that there are times when folks do plan ahead and still run out of resources and find themselves in dire straits. That is not the same as leading a life style of only living for today and then when things go wrong expecting someone else to fix the situation.

Within my own community several situations come to mind.

A family with a good income who never bothered to purchase health insurance. Both of the adults in that family and one of the children all developed serious health problems within a couple of years. I remember clearly hearing the father bemoaning the fact that they now could not get health insurance. Well, you don't wait and buy car insurance until after you have wrecked your vehicle! In the same way, you do not buy every new gadget on the market rather than investing in some health insurance when you are healthy and then expect to be able to buy it once you are ill. The community came together and raised funds to help this family. A year later, when things improved, they went on a cruise! Did they try to find a way to create a fund in the community to help the next person in need? No! Did they set funds aside for their next emergency? No!

Another family suffered a "crisis" when their heating system failed in the dead of winter. They lacked the resources to repair or replace the system. Again, community members rallied and helped them get their system replaced. By the next summer they were sharing information about the extensive kitchen remodel they were doing. Did they seek to repay those who had helped them? No! Did they check with local agencies to see if there was another family in need that they could now help? No!

I understand the concept of living in the moment and enjoying each day. I do not understand the kind of self indulgence mentioned above where folks only live for today and the next new thing to splurge on without first making sure they have assets available to get themselves through difficult times.

At what point do we stop being helpful and instead become enablers? At what point do we say that it is time for folks to take responsibility for their own well being? I have no problem with folks making their own choices. I just happen to believe that maybe it is time to do a bit more investigating into situations and be willing to let folks live out the consequences of their choices.

Maybe if we were a bit more careful of where we give help, those who are truly in need would have more help available and those who make poor decisions would learn to make more responsible choices.