Por Nada...

Came home last night to a big pile o' mail at the front door. And what was in that pile, my dearest lads and lasses? (If you live in E-town like me, you already know the answer to this one...) Yes, that's right, my King-Ralph sanctioned Prosperity Cheque. A whole whopping $400.00 from the government, for no particular reason other than, well, "because we can."

Now, while many people see this as a great bonus to being from the great red-neck yee-haw province of Alberta and are planning spa packages (well, those who aren't on the dole and using this money to pay off their mortgage this month, that is,) I am more interested in the "becase we can" part of this equation.

What many of my fellow Albertans seem to be taking for granted in this mad money-grubbing rush is how very fortunate we are to be getting this money at all. I mean, think about it: a few million of us are being given, for no other reason than because we happen to live in one of the wealthiest places in the world, what in some 3rd-world country would be the equivalent of an entire year's salary. I'm sure my $400.00 would go a long way towards feeding some hungry orphans or building a well or some such thing.

Just kinda rubs me the wrong way when some people are getting all self-congratulatory, as if they did something special to "deserve" this. Reminds me of the last Chris Rock HBO special I saw. He made a funny (and hilarious because it was so true) comment about how proud people are and how deserving they feel about coming from a first world country. Chris succinctly put it (excuse lack of humour brought on by my poor paraphrase): "you didn't do anything to get where you are, you just happened to come out of the right person in the right place a the right time. That's not destiny, that's luck!"

In that spirit, I think I'm going to count myself lucky and spend the money on things i really need, rather than just spoil myself. Since the money isn't being spent on things like education and health care (because the "people" use the money so much more wisely than the government, pfft) and i've got no health coverage at the mo', I think this money'll help go to paying off to get my teeth fixed, so this ache that's been bothering me for the past few weeks will finally go away. Not glamorous, but more useful than a new pair of boots.

How are you all going to use your money, E-tonians?

Cheers,

k