It’s Easter, I’m a Catholic, so I went to church. The sun was shining, the altar was covered with floral arrangements, the mood was ebullient, but I was sulking in the pew. Why, because I was thinking about my neighbor’s car, a Ford Flex that he leased, and that car–actually, not the car but the fact that my neighbor could afford the payments for a Ford Flex, and I could not–had me in a full sulk.
My wife wasn’t having my sour mood, and mid-way through mass, she dug her elbow into my side and whispered angrily, “what’s the matter with you?”
I tried to smile and get into the spirit of the day, but it was tough.
On the way home she brought it up again, only this time she wasn’t whispering, and I told her that I was sulking over the Ford Flex, and she shook her head and said, you don’t want it, you COVET it!
I mumbled something and we went to breakfast.
Later on, I sat down and thought about what she said. No one uses the word “covet” much these days, and I thought about where I had heard it before.
It was the Ten Commandments. There are two commandments that mention the word covet: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, and thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods. I don’t care much for his wife, who is sharp-tongued and once asked my wife (about me): “what do you see in him anyway?
So I don’t covet her, but I do covet his goods, as in the Ford Flex.
That got me to thinking about other stuff I coveted, and guess what–it was all stuff that other people could afford and I couldn’t…I wrote it all down–made a list of all the things that I wanted that everyone else had, and it was a good-sized list of things. Will it make me covet less?
I don’t know, but at least it was out in the open.
TASK:
Go outside your house or apartment. Look around. Write down the stuff that you want, but other people have. Be precise. Do the same at work, at the gym, at the auto shop, at the movies… The list is going to be long an involved. Look at each item. Ask yourself why you want it, and if you deserve it, and if you can live without it. The results will surprise you.
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We celebrate Gay Pride all year long. But this year, we’re doing some special programing for a large-scale campaign #LoveEqually. We’re looking for both sponsors and contributors. Check it out! https://t.co/tkraXFPxLL pic.twitter.com/X2FlBEZb8Y
— The Good Men Project (@GoodMenProject) March 11, 2019
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