Our Week

Here’s the story of our week.

I worked three days at H&R Block. I’m in the middle of working on an interesting case–the client last filed a return in 2003, and her memory is almost nonexistent. A real challenge.

I attended a meeting of our Big Canoe Emergency Response Team on Tuesday evening. Because of a combination of events, I presided at the meeting.

We were invited to a fun dinner party on Friday evening. A friend couple invited us and two other couples. They wanted to get our ideas about what is good and bad about the Big Canoe Chapel.

We went to Ellen’s house yesterday (Saturday). All three of their boys were there, and the two daughters-in-law, and Tim. It was fun to see everyone. While we were there, the four ladies went shopping, the four Harward guys played basketball, and I just hung out. Later we watched Duke win a basketball game, and ate. Here’s what everyone looked like:

The Harward Family

Back row: Scott, Tim, Kevin; middle row: Michael, Laura Beth, Lara; front row: Ellen, Philip, Margie.

Tim has completed his training as an AT&T U-verse installer, and this week starts doing actual installations.  We’re proud of him for getting that far, and hope he does well as he starts his duties.

Today, our Sunday-School class had a Mexican Fiesta at noon-time. Margie worked hard on getting the food out and decorating. I operated the sound system.

Now, we’re packing for our trip to Africa.

I hope everyone else had a good week.

Greed

Recent events have caused me to think about something I’ve thought about in the past. Lots of people talk about greed, but I haven’t heard anyone really say what they mean when they use the word.

To me, greed is taking steps to obtain something of value, without providing equal value in return. The essence of life is to obtain things of value. But when you provide equal value in return, there is no greed involved, and you and the person with whom you trade are not demonstrating greed. You provide your services to an employer, and the employer pays you a wage. You buy something at a store, and pay the advertised price. These are things all of us do every day.

Here are some other transactions that don’t represent greed. An executive of a company gets a very large compensation from the company, that some people not involved consider excessive. That isn’t greed, because the board of directors of the company believes that the services of the executive are of equal value to the compensation provided. A tax preparation company provides refund anticipation loans, charging a fee that some people consider excessive, but that doesn’t represent greed, because the client obtaining the loan believes he or she is getting equal value for the loan. A movie star acting in a movie gets a pay package that some people consider excessive. But it isn’t greed, because the producer of the movie believes the star’s performance is of equal value to the pay provided.

Here are some transactions that do represent greed. People live in apartments under rent control, paying rent the owner of the apartment considers less than the value of the apartment, because the government determines what the rental should be. A patient using medicare obtains medical services from a doctor, paying less than the amount the doctor considers equal value. The amount is determined by the federal government, rather than by the two parties to the transaction. A professional football player insists on a rate of pay higher than the team owner considers equal value, under the threat of disrupting the owner’s business with a strike. A production worker asks for a rate of pay higher than the owner of the factory considers of equal value, under the threat of disrupting the owner’s business with a strike.

Our Week

Here’s the story of our week.

I worked three days at H&R Block this week. We’re getting into some interesting returns. One was a client with two partnerships (renting houses), that I spent all one day on.

I got trained in an additional duty for the Big Canoe Emergency Response Team. When we had the fire recently, no one opened the gates to let in the firefighters. Now I know how to do that, in case I’m the first one to get there again.

I attended the monthly meeting of the Big Canoe men’s club, and wrote up the meeting for the newspaper.

We went to a charity dinner (supporting Hospice), sitting at a table with our next door neighbors. It was a pleasant evening.

I operated the sound system at the chapel this morning. At one point, I got simultaneous requests to lower the sound level and to raise the sound level. You can’t please everyone.

We’re down to 10 days before we leave for South Africa and Zimbabwe. I think we’re as prepared as we need to be at this point, but the last-minute things will be a challenge. I’ll try to post frequently when we’re there, but that may not be possible.

I hope everyone else had a good week.