Money, money, money

There are lots of songs about money and getting rich, or about being poor, and sometimes we sing them happily without really thinking too deeply about the words.

Of course we do the same with most of the hymns we sing in church too, which is something else we ought to think about.

Right now in South Africa, money is a big issue. One can’t help feeling quite befuddled to hear that miners are on strike demanding R16 000 per month while farm workers are fighting for R150 per day, which works out to R3 000 per month for 20 working days.

Where is the correlation? Both kinds of labourers work hard, as do so many other workers earning vastly different amounts, some with prescribed minimum wages and others based on market-related factors which applies mainly to the very high-income earners.

We are also often reminded that at least half of South Africans are living in poverty, earning less than R1000 per month and/or with many of their family members unemployed.

There is massive inequality between the very rich and the very poor, and South Africa has one of the greatest inequality levels in the world.

That is very serious, but my concern here is about the growing inequality factor within the middle-class.

It used to be that one would start at entry level, move up within a company – often the same one for most of one’s working life – and get an annual increase and build up a reasonable pension.

But that is no longer the case. Most of us older parents find that many of our children are earning a lot more than we are, because of the nature of their work and not necessarily their educational qualifications.

Clearly not everyone in a family would be in the same boat. Some do extremely well, others battle financially.

Some job-hop for better pay or for greater work satisfaction. Some have an entrepreneurial spirit while others are more conservative or cautious. Is it luck or skill?

Some are able to send their children to expensive schools and have great holidays while others in the family make do with whatever schooling they can afford and are lucky to have a holiday occasionally.

Birthday and Christmas presents, eating out, clothes and electronic gadgets are all dependent on one’s financial position.  Weddings, and in some communities funerals, can be massively expensive and are also dependent on one’s attitude or value system.

These events come with extra expenses which can be a great burden for the wider family. Some relatives, friends and colleagues may be able to afford to stay over at venues, but can a family member with three or four children? No one wants to be beholden either and receiving hand-outs from wealthier family members – if that happens it is very helpful and much appreciated, but it does not feel good.

It is a dilemma and it’s hard when you’re not all in the same boat. Some are in a cruise ship, some in a speedboat, and some in a fishing boat. Somehow we all have to paddle our own canoe and deal with our own reality. Can that be something to think, and sing, about these Christmas holidays?

Come to think of it, will they be real Christmas holidays for much longer, or just year-end holidays?

That may be food for another family reflection, one every family should have, possibly in a regular family hour which I still advocate strongly to build family unity and develop a family’s spirituality with special attention in this Year of Faith.

The December family theme is “Family a Gift”, not necessarily one to go out and buy, but one of the ultimately most rewarding gifts we can give one another is time, to communicate, to share, to decide how else we can be a gift to other families, always doing our best to remember that, as the slogan goes, “Jesus is the reason for the season”.