So I saw this neat analogy today. Kids who grow up wealthy view money like we view water. We know, in the back of our minds, that there are people who are "poor" when it comes to water, who have to walk miles to get drinkable water, and that bathing is a luxury that they cannot afford. We also know that there are "middle class" water users, like those in Flint, who have access to drinking water, but it's bottled and must be carefully rationed. The rest of us can turn on the tap, hot and cold as we wish, wash the dog, water the flowers, and use water in our toilets. Think about that. We flush water multiple times a day. So we can't fault those who grew up in trust-fund houses, who don't grasp the concept that not everybody has someone else who does their laundry or drives them around.
I've been looking for a good way to explain why I keep trusting people, even after so many have hurt me, and I think I've finally found it. I grew up in a "love-rich" household. My parents had Love, with a capital L. They loved each other, until death. They both came from parents who were married until death. My aunt and cousins lived next door to us growing up. Family was always there for you, both literally and figuratively. But then I married a man who had come from divorce. And over the many years since our divorce, I have come to see just how lucky I was. I was a trust-fund baby. Not, of course, in the literal sense. I think that, officially, we were "lower middle class". We had running water. But we had to conserve. But in the matters of the heart, there was no such thing. We had a home where our friends were always welcome. We had so much Love we were giving it away.
A "trust-fund" child is always confident in matters of money. He can walk into a job interview without any apprehension. If he doesn't get this job, he can always tap into his retirement fund, or sell one of his many cars. If someone robs him, takes his wallet, he will be upset, but not as much as a man who is robbed of everything he owns, with no back-up account to tide him over.
Some see the glass as half full. Others, say it is half empty. Once upon a time, I answered the age old question with "my cup runneth over". After my divorce, I had thought those days were lost to me. Then I found love again. And I got hurt. The second heartbreak was worse than the first. I was like the poor man, already down to my last dollar, when I was robbed.
So why do I keep on trusting people? Why do I keep opening myself up to emotional pain? Because I was raised in a house of Love. That will be with me forever. I can turn to my father, my sister, my aunt, my gran. As a 'trust fund' baby in the House of Love, I can dip into that account in times of need, and come out the other side just fine.
I used to wonder, to worry, that without their dad around, my kids would grow up to be just like him - not knowing Love or what to do with it. But the opposite has turned out to be true. By only having me around, they're growing up just like me. I Love Them. More than those three words can express. We are rich.
