2008 Woodie Awards
Money isn't the only currency in success and happiness
By: Jon Vick
Issue date: 4/11/07 Section: Opinion
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Jon Vick
Staff Writer
On Saturday as I was about lock the door at my place of employment, someone from the past, a childhood friend's father, stepped through the door. We greeted each other and engaged in some casual conversation. I then asked how his son had been getting along in school and so forth. The man's eyes lit up as told me of his son's recent graduation, and numerous job offers. He said that the most recent offer was more money than he could imagine. He commented that he would not tell me how much because it would make me...he cut his sentence short.
It would what? Make me jealous? Make me envious? I know this man did not mean any harm at all, he was very proud of his son, as he should be. Then he asked me, "So, how are you doing?"
How am I doing? I'm really hoping to get an internship at a TV station this summer. I'm working for seven dollars an hour, 17 hours a week. I'm not done with school, and I'm not making unmentionable amounts of money a year. By the way, I am suddenly discouraged.
We talked a little longer. He left and I locked the door, took down register two, and counted the petty cash that was in the little spring-loaded cash register. Then I left too, through the same door as the man from yesterday. I walked over the black asphalt, under the yellow sky and sat in my car. I sat for a minuet and watched a rough old Ford pickup truck drift into a parking space across from me. I watched a guy, probably a little older than myself get out. The man had one thing in each hand. In the left, the hand of a little boy in a blue Cub Scout uniform, in his right the hand of a little girl in a big green hat. I watched the two children pull their daddy at high speed across the parking lot. The three laughed as they moved, locked together. A smile came and sat on my mouth, as I sat in my car.
I smiled because God had just told me something, rather God reminded me of something that we all often forget. He reminded me that what is important is not what we have, but who (or Who) we have.
It's important that we love people: our friends, our families, total strangers and our God. The money we earn is not important, but what we do with that money, or that relationship, or that unique gift means a great deal. Even as I drove back to the dwelling my parents paid for, in the car my dad bought, to eat food I had not earned, I thought to myself, "I have value to others, but most importantly, I have value to God."
Staff Writer
On Saturday as I was about lock the door at my place of employment, someone from the past, a childhood friend's father, stepped through the door. We greeted each other and engaged in some casual conversation. I then asked how his son had been getting along in school and so forth. The man's eyes lit up as told me of his son's recent graduation, and numerous job offers. He said that the most recent offer was more money than he could imagine. He commented that he would not tell me how much because it would make me...he cut his sentence short.
It would what? Make me jealous? Make me envious? I know this man did not mean any harm at all, he was very proud of his son, as he should be. Then he asked me, "So, how are you doing?"
How am I doing? I'm really hoping to get an internship at a TV station this summer. I'm working for seven dollars an hour, 17 hours a week. I'm not done with school, and I'm not making unmentionable amounts of money a year. By the way, I am suddenly discouraged.
We talked a little longer. He left and I locked the door, took down register two, and counted the petty cash that was in the little spring-loaded cash register. Then I left too, through the same door as the man from yesterday. I walked over the black asphalt, under the yellow sky and sat in my car. I sat for a minuet and watched a rough old Ford pickup truck drift into a parking space across from me. I watched a guy, probably a little older than myself get out. The man had one thing in each hand. In the left, the hand of a little boy in a blue Cub Scout uniform, in his right the hand of a little girl in a big green hat. I watched the two children pull their daddy at high speed across the parking lot. The three laughed as they moved, locked together. A smile came and sat on my mouth, as I sat in my car.
I smiled because God had just told me something, rather God reminded me of something that we all often forget. He reminded me that what is important is not what we have, but who (or Who) we have.
It's important that we love people: our friends, our families, total strangers and our God. The money we earn is not important, but what we do with that money, or that relationship, or that unique gift means a great deal. Even as I drove back to the dwelling my parents paid for, in the car my dad bought, to eat food I had not earned, I thought to myself, "I have value to others, but most importantly, I have value to God."
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