Time Out for Drying

After gessoing some canvases and doing a small "quickie" painting, Irises, I had to take a time out for everything to dry. At my computer, I went to a new blog to see what someone On the Corner of Thirty and Awesome was all about. I had read a few of his comments at another blog I'm following, and thought he was a pretty interesting guy. His blog blew my mind.

His post was about a dilemma he was having over which job to take of the two that were on the table--the one he applied for that came back to offer him more money than he'd ever earned before, or the other, which offered him an opportunity to do something good in the world but paid less?

Roger's problem didn't sound like a dilemma to me; it sounded like a godsend these days of huge unemployment. And I commented that I'd take the job that offered the most money. My reasoning was that he could always do worldly good with volunteer work after hours, and, with his new found wealth, by writing checks to the causes he supported. He was in his productive years. It's the money he stashes away in his thirties and forties that will make the biggest difference in the quality of his life in his golden years.

In just a few minutes, it struck me that: There seems to be a big difference between the awesome thirties and the awesome sixties. Idealism versus reality, Youth versus experience. The amount of water behind our ears?

This gal has noticed during her sixty something years that more money makes lots of good things happen in the world, e.g. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet and their philanthropy--our country and our costly support of human rights around the globe, Greg Mortenson and his schools in Afghanistan and, closer to home, my contributions to the Detroit Institute of Arts, Jewish Federation, Allied Jewish Campaign, Goodwill and any musician I run into trying to earn a living with his music.

Then Honey came in and threw in his two cents: "What about love, passion, belief in what you're doing?

"What about all that?" I said.

"If you love your work, you'll make money at it. He's young enough, he could go with his passions. If he loves what he's doing enough, he'll make money at it."

I couldn't believe that this was my Honey talking--the guy who always put money first--finally convinced me I should do the same. We had totally switched positions. --But my stuff was dry. Roger's blog topic had really made the time fly.

As I headed back to the studio, I thought, "Take the money Roger."

Then this morning I heard the job market report. It was a false report. All the new jobs were for census takers, temporary positions. The stock market immediately fell a hundred points while the broadcaster was reading! "Take the money Roger."