Snoots

The answer is simple - “The amount that you have - unless your ship is sinking.”

So, what if it is? What choices do you have if your ship is sinking? More to come…

Recently, I’ve been giving a lot of advice and I classify as one of those people that live in glass houses and shouldn’t throw stones, or the pot that calls the kettle black. I don’t know if it’s my experience or my confidence that makes free advice so easy to dole out. Regardless, I’m wondering if Dear Old Abby has any problems of her own?

Is my situation so much worse than everyone else’s? I suspect that even the perfect people have their own issues. One of the most amazing revelations I’ve experienced occurred several years ago in the food court of a shopping mall just before Christmas. I was grumpy - no, down-right pissed off at all the people walking around, walking in front of me, taking up seats with their perfect little gift bags and seemingly endless piles of expensive outerwear, etc. Occasionally, I’d see a person that appeared to be of more humble means than me. For the most part, I was there resenting the world because I couldn’t stand the commercialism of Christmas. I was uncertain of the real meaning of Christmas. All I knew was that everyone else seemed to be doing it “right” and I was miserable. Then it occurred to me - those folks I was with that day were feeling it, too. Each and every one of them was dealing with the last minuteness, the long lines, the lack of seating in the food court, the uncertainty of where that final present would be found, the greater uncertainty of how they’d pay for all this stuff when the credit card bill came rolling in.

The people of which I was really envious were those folks that I never saw in that final rush. Some people shop for Christmas all year around and when December comes, they’re either resting, or they’re already on to the next year!

There’s really no point to this post other than to say that things aren’t always what they seem.