Sunday, February 15, 2009

Living Outside of the Debt and Stuff Enslavement System




Just before Thanksgiving 2008, I finished Harriet Tubman by the brilliant researcher Catherine Clinton who, by the way, wamly responded to my email that I sent stating how she enlightened me.

Tubman remains one of my favorite real life heroes but I was struck by how she crafted dozens of runs to free so many slaves but did not adequately prepare for her own retirement in Canada: Over the course of many years, cash flowed into Tubman's life from abolitionists yet she did not put any of it away for later living: She struggled to make ends meet in old age. (From another source I learned that her contemporary, Sojourner Truth, lived in a paid for home in the 1800's. Certainly, if Truth can do it, I can too!)

Another odd and interesting fact: Tubman was committed to freeing her family and was able to motivate her aging parents, siblings, and their families to run and live outside of the slave system. Her husband, John Tubman, however, chose to remain a slave. This broke Harriet's heart and I know we can read into the variables affecting his decision but it baffles the mind to know someone who can set you free yet we choose to remain enslaved. He remarried another slave and stayed within the system. (Guess she said, "I love ya, baby, but I got to go. Can't live like this no mo'. (LOL))

This is exactly how I perceive many people who don't want to live outside of the "being broke with debt and stuff system or being an enabler."

The broke enablers don't want to confront the addicted or extremely dependent ones they are supporting so they claim that this self-destructive behavior of giving away huge sums of their earnings is what they are on the earth to do. Some people seem to prefer to remain broke decade after decade and will recite the "the comforts of enslavement" to you. They are only fooling other slaves, not the frugal and free. I'm not convinced that such a line of reasoning correlates to God's best for mankind.

An incredible body of information to financial freedom can be found online and, of course, libraries, bookstores, etc. Most folks know at least one wise individual or couple who are exceptional in handling their resources and money. Often, the broke folks shun the wise and free as if they are intergalactic aliens when coins are jangling in their pockets yet, praise the same when they spend their last dime a few days or weeks before payday.

Freedom from the enslavement of debt isn't a mystery. The Bible has clear instructions but if you don't believe in it, check out the non-biblical resources in the new blibliography I've posted. Universal truths are true whether or not you believe God is the source of them or not: The principles work. In 2004, I stumbled on Dave Ramsey and a plethora of information began chasing me down. I couldn't resist! It made too much sense and as challenging as it was and still is to control my human nature, as the slave system of debt and stuff beckon me back into the game, I love my freedom and I'm not going back. Freedom!




1 comment:

  1. Thanks for your support of "Your Money or Your Life!" Wanted you to know that we have a new website (www.yourmoneyoryourlife.info -- not .org) and lots of new resources too. Given your interest in the subject, I also wanted to let you know that original YMoYL author Vicki Robin has been working on a book on freedom. Monique Tilford, Co-author, "Your Money or Your Life"

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