I’m always amazed how teaching financial education is made
simplest when it has a face. While this
blog’s theme is “Life enhanced through financial education” also known as LEFTe
™, I was reminded recently that giving must be talked about when teaching financial
education.
There was no better picture of this than my sweet
mother-in-law. This lady raised five boys, ran a business and recognized the
need to purchase property in the 60’s. However, I often heard the story from my
husband and his brothers how their mother would on a regular basis set out to
take their father his lunch and would show up empty handed. Her usual response was, “I saw someone that needed
it more than you Jimmy, and sometimes that someone’s name was “Bubble Gum”.
This week while teaching a budgeting class to a group of
seniors, the statement was made that charity was indeed a budgeting item for
them to consider. Several students
questioned, “If this was something they had to do?” It also appeared when
expense seemed to be more than the income, a few students thought of cutting
charity first. I found myself having a
hard time justifying their need for a cellphone over giving to their local
Church or Charity. Now, while I firmly believe
in tithing to my local Church, it seemed that others attitude of giving was based
on individuals not necessity.
As I attended Church that night, the message seemed to
verify my thought process that investing in others has to be just as much a
part of our financial footprint as saving for a rainy day. Then my husband
leaned over and said, “Remember the bicycle” as if to read my thoughts! As I
smiled, I recalled attending his sweet mother’s visitation prior to her
funeral. Many spoke of the business that she and my father-in-law had owned as
well as her personality full of character. However, most recalled her kindness
to those less fortunate and the impact she had made on them. As we left the packed chapel, I noticed a man
on a bicycle right outside the door. I
said to my husband, “who is that”? He
simply replied, “that’s Bubble Gum”.
