Dear Reader:

Wouldn’t it have been nice when we were taking that one required economics high school course (for graduation) if our teacher had written the most important “economic” principle on the board…the one essential fact we should never forget.

“IT IS BY SPENDING ONESELF THAT WE BECOME RICH.”

Something along this line of thinking ran through my mind yesterday while watching Wanda’s memorial service on-line.  Such a beautiful service…

The one “essential” theme that ran through Wanda’s service… from every speaker who took the podium… was Wanda’s lifelong acts of giving and generosity that far exceeded an average life.

First she joined her husband in all his selfless commitments to community and the needy…before continuing in his tracks after his sudden departure…as she picked up the torch and carried it through… to her end.

Wanda Stout left this world far richer than she entered it in more ways than any form of currency. She spent her unique talents…giving… to others on a continuous basis. When she saw a problem…she simply “fixed” it…for example like providing benches for neighborhood children to use while waiting on school buses in all seasons…or fixing breakfast for children who hadn’t eaten before running to the bus stop.

There are the ‘Wanda Stouts’ of the world who jump straight in… to right a wrong…and then there are so many of us…well-intentioned but slow to react to life happening in front of our very eyes. We use the excuse we need to wait until things calm down before reacting to problems…to getting our acts together.

By now…we should have all learned a very important lesson…life never calms down. Life is constant movement, always changing…with unforeseen circumstances waiting for us around the unknown bend in the path.

So instead of acting…we get caught in the “Waiting Room”….as Dr. Seuss described….

“Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite. Or waiting around for Friday night or waiting perhaps for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil or a better break or a string of pearls or a pair of pants or a wig with curls or another chance. Everyone is just waiting.”

Waiting, as we know, is a waste of time…a loss of life. We must live life right now…good, bad, or ugly. We only have a short visit on earth so we don’t have an abundance of time to wait and see. But we do have an abundance of time to become richer in spirit…through spending our allotted time helping others.

So until tomorrow….

To beget something means to cause it to happen or be created…don’t we all wish to be remembered, like Wanda, as a person who acted and reacted in life…instead of waiting for the “right” or convenient time to come along to do good deeds.

Let’s take time to raise our awareness of everyday opportunities to “beget” blessings for others…so one day, they in turn, can pay their fortuitous circumstance forward to still another. Such is the true meaning of life….“by spending oneself we grow spiritually prosperous.”  

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I am becoming more and more conscious of the fact that it is simply past time for us to lay our differences aside and instead concentrate on what we need to do, collectively, to bring hope to so many who have lost sight of it…

We need to resurrect hope by resuscitating long-lost dreams and aspirations. We should all be “equalizers”…working towards an united goal…that includes everyone of us living in this great country…taking time to help others have the same chance to pursue their own individualized form of the American Dream.

In other words…we need to be “Wanda’s”… thinking of different ways to help others throughout each day of our lives.