Patterns

Earn.
Pay.

I have been doing some thinking about how our whole system of existence is based on earning and paying- deserving.

We earn because we need. We pay because we need.
We earn more because we want. We pay more because we want more. We do this because we feel we deserve it.

Our self esteem is effected by it right from the beginning. Our concept of human rights is built around it. Our understanding of waste and destruction is influenced by it. Our committment to our jobs is driven by it.

We use phrases like "what goes around comes around", "you get what you give" or "I worked hard for it"...

And it's all "fine" until we realize that the most important thing in life- our relationships- are destroyed by this system. Wives wait until husbands earn the right to be respected. Husbands wait until wives earn the right to be loved. (As if love could be earned).

Love can't be earned or paid for. If it is, it isn't love. Love gets sweeter the less you do for it. We wonder why we "can't all just get along", while we try and make love fit the earn/pay pattern. (That's called "tolerance"...but that's a blog for another time)

The thing is, true life is found in love- yet we try and earn and pay for the kind of "life" we think we deserve.

Bring our relationships into that mixture, and we have some serious therapy to pay for...
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Tim Bailey