The Daily G.I.F.T. from The GratiDude

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The G.I.F.T. Today

Grateful: for having totally different conversations with conscious people than I was capable of even one year ago. Amazing growth.

Intention-continue to experience heart opening thoughts and processes.

First-on time departure KC airlines

Things-talk with Patrick at Ritz r.e. guest limits.

Morning Meditation from The GratiDude

Someday I’ll make a list alphabetically of all the different things I’ve done for money, all the different jobs. I’ve had it over the years since I started shoveling snow and mowing lawns back in 1977.

My brother and I were so into the hustle that my parents got away with gifting a snowblower to us in 1978 for Christmas.  Since we had the job of shoveling the sidewalk and the driveway, when necessary, a snowblower was truly one of the greatest gifts we ever got for Christmas.  

However, was the ability for us to share it and pool money for gas and use it to make money from doing our neighbors sidewalks when it would snow.  

Come, summertime both my brother and I would turn our tennis shoes green by the middle of May mowing lawns of neighbors and friends to make some money.  I would mow Sheri Belcher’s lawn in fifth and sixth grade even though I didn’t do that great of a job, but Sheri and I were boyfriend and girlfriend off and on in fifth and sixth grade and her parents took a shine to me.  

Sheri’s Dad was Lou Belcher, a Business and Political Legend in Ann Arbor who was the Republican Mayor in a Liberal College Town.

He must have been GOOD!!

Myrna Belcher, Lou’s Golfing Better Half, would come out every single time I mowed the lawn either during or right after with a cold drink like a lemonade or a Coca-Cola.

She was so sweet and so kind to me, and it made such a strong impression that I always thought to myself that if I ever have people doing work for me, I’ll make sure I always offer them a drink or refreshment because it changes the entire day.

I was reminded of this when I moved to California, and I did Landscaping for a few years, and I would have some days that were just moving rocks and wheelbarrows from one place to another.  It was hard work that actually required not just physical labor concentration because there was an element of balance for the wheelbarrow and the pathway going to these dump sites and it was just brutal work plain and simple.

But you know what I remember, just as much as the color of the wheelbarrow the location of the house and all of that earth and dirt and rock moving?

Was the little brother who is about 11 years old who brought out a Coca-Cola. 

The first day I saw him drinking wine and he must’ve seen my eyes look over and kind of light up because he immediately asked me: “Do you want one too?”

I was like “hell to the yeah” I can’t even afford one right now (not joking).

So, for me, it was not just the kindness of getting a cold drink, but also the dollar 50 that the coat cost back then I recognize as a true gift as well.  When you are poor and working to pay rent every month little things like that go a long way and create lasting memories.

There are tons of people in our society that are in the same position economically that I was in college and many of them are doing the work that we see all around us whether it’s serving us food or bringing us packages or giving us a ride and all of these people need recognition love and compassion.

The United States is a funny place in that the very richest do the least amount of work and pay the least amount of taxes, which isn’t unusual and other parts of the world either.  However, what’s unusual here is that people seem to have been convinced that if you’re making $50 an hour your problem is really the guy making $30 an hour.  And if you’re making $30 an hour, your problem is the minimum wage.

Meanwhile, you roll up just 10 of those workers and they are probably paying more in taxes each year than some corporations reaping hundreds of millions of dollars of profits when you actually net it all out.

I’m not saying head to the corporations with pitchforks and torches. I’m just saying let’s throw a bone and give some love and compassion to the folks out there doing all the hard work and getting very little recognition and a whole lot of grief in the process.

Like the snowcone hustler here, obviously has incredible energy and wonderful smile, and is super proud of his efforts and work and is proprietary sweet recipe for his own snowcones.