Welcome back to my world folks. I am about 2 cups of coffee short of something profound today, but I am going to drop a steaming pile of love on your chest regardless.
Investments. Withdrawals. Interest. Value. Trading.
These are all words that I'm assuming you all have heard a million times over, when connecting them to the Stock Market.
Yet, we also find ourselves needing these same words in our daily relationships with friends, partners, loved ones in general.
I'll go in order so no one gets lost.
The first one is a key. We invest our time, money, emotions, passions, and dreams in others all the time. We take something that is of value to us, and we place it in the hands of another, to see if they water it to make it grow, stare at it like "What the fuck do you want me to do with this?", or just throw it away in general. We give these things to people to see what the person thinks of us. We invest all of ourselves into others in hopes that the person on the receiving end will help us grow into a better person.
Which brings me to the next point...withdrawals are made more than investments in today's society. We tend to ask for more than we want to give. When a friend needs help moving a couch, and they call on you, most people hesitate and flounder at the fact that they have to get out of their routine, to do some fruitless effort. Even if it's on the smallest scale of "Sure." Sure, is one of those noncommittal words I can't stand. "Do you want to come over and play the new Xbox game with me?" "Sure." As if to say, "You're not reaaally worth it, but I'll do it anyhow, because I have nothing better to do." Sure, Sorry, Thanks, -Welcome...all passive words that show lack of interest. "Thank you." "You're welcome." "I'm sorry." "YES!!" Those are words of someone that if they need to make a withdrawal from the Love Bank, that they want to hear from the other party. We need these withdrawals to see who truly cares in our time of need, versus, who truly could give two fucks about us.
Interest...one of my favorite parts. When you put money in your savings account, it begins to gain interest. Meaning, you have the original value of what you placed in there, and for you being such an intelligent investor, you now get 'free money' for being so wise. Such is also how we find our friends, family, and loved ones. We all have that friend that has been around soooo long, that if they call for anything, you jump out of your seat to be by their side. Why is that? Because the tiny investments that they've made over the years sat in your heart, and in your head and gained interest. The tiny day-to-day efforts that they've made on your behalf have sat with you so well, that an ordinary love, has become extraordinary. The more interest a relationship has, the more value you put on it. It's such a rare thing nowadays to see these kinds of relationships. People no longer see the interest growing, they just want to keep depositing, and keep depositing, and if you don't deposit....then, they think you're not investing. Sometimes it's not about the amount, it's about the quality of what you're gaining interest on. The interest is what creates the long lasting bond. The one that can't be broken, come rain or snow....which ties directly into the Value portion of what I was speaking about.
We place value upon EVERYTHING!! Possessions, friends, love, intelligence, phone service, food....you name it, we put a value on it. The image of the value in our heads, is always different than that of the person standing next to you. In other words...one man's trash, could be another man's treasure. Take love for instance. I have seen NUMEROUS relationships fall apart, because one half of the relationship didn't feel the other half was living up to their idea of "the perfect relationship". This is the other persons value of you. You could be the Crown Prince of Awesome to someone else, but to that person, you are dropping the ball. It could be in a department that they needed more value in, but you didn't have any more to invest. So, what ultimately happens, is you withdraw what you've already invested in that person, because you see you have no more value there, and you begin to look at other banks to deposit your goods in. We are all valuable. Each and every single one of us. From the crackhead junkie on the street, to the President of the United States. We all have value. It's just that, others around us are the ones that place that value upon us.
Which, brings me to my final term....Trading.
We all know what trading is from the time we're kids in kindergarten. My first experience with trading was, this other kid had this REALLY cool Swiss Army Knife...and all I had were 20 something G.I. Joe's that were in mint condition. (see where this is going yet?) Well, that shiny new something caught my eye so much, that I no longer saw the value in my G.I. Joe collection, and I knew I wanted that knife. So, we made the trade. He got my toys, and I got his knife. I played with the file, the scissors, , the magnifying glass and finally, the toothpick..."OH! This toothpick would make a cool sword for Snake Eyes!.....oh, wait...I don't have Snake Eyes anymore." And, then, it sat in. I had made the worst trade ever. I was so used to playing with my toys, that I no longer found them valuable, until I had traded them away to someone else, and then...it was too late.
As a society, we tend to trade all the time. This friend, for that friend. My time for your time. My story for your story. But, the trading that tears us apart is the trading of hearts. We lose value with each time we trade. Why? Because all the interest you gained with that person, is wiped away after you trade, and so you're left with your original worth. The problem is, we age...and our value is the same, but the time runs out. So, we desperately start scrambling to find a replacement bank to deposit our money in, and hope that the interest rate is higher here than it was before. But, then, there's no interest, and so we grab our original value out, and run around again...and again...and again....friends, t.v.'s, cell phone plans, we trade, trade, trade, because we are never content anymore. "I can find something of higher value, that is worth more, but will have a lower interest rate."
We are each our own stockholder. We know we're worth "something", but we don't know how much until someone tells us. The key, is to find someone that tells you how to grow, and puts so much interest in you, that the thought of trading scares THEM...as well as you....or even moreso...the thought of trading never crosses their mind.
So my friends, pay attention to your value, and try not to withdraw more than you invest. For, we are a fragile economy of souls, and moving our value around too much, ultimately leaves us with a loss of value of our original worth. And, no one deserves that. Not when you've invested so much.
But, as with all stock...sometimes you have to take risks, and gamble on what you think will get you the best outcome.
I personally...just want to get my money into a bank, and leave it there.
For some reason....I really want to go watch Wall Street all of a sudden.
And, with my nickel head, and million dollar heart, I bid you all farewell, until the next installment of a Fistful of Fuhgettaboutit...
-Johnny
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