Poverty

As with anything, poverty is relative! Just near the University of Zululand (where they instal tar speed humps, then dig them out leaving a trench, then retar the resulting mess!) there is this mansion (the white dwelling) and you have to notice the DSTV Satellite dish - between the door and the window.

I subscribe to DSTV and it is not exactly cheap - but is well worth the cost! How anyone with a 1 room house (no bathroom usually) can pay the fees, then claim poverty, but they do! You can guarantee though that they have a huge balance at the nearest OK Furniture, or at a local finance house! Then they are super amazed when the wheels fall off, and the most common cry is "I am previously disadvantaged!" as if this gives them the right to spend extravagantly! Then we have problems where they stike for higher pay, to afford the lifestyle they desperately want to become accustomed!

A point that I only noticed today (Thursday) is that this mansion actually has Cebtral Airconditioning, and not just a wall mounted airconditioner!

I sympathise with Church leaders who have to listen to members who live well beyond their means, then expect - nay demand - Church handouts when (not "if"!) the wheels fall off! They dont pay Fast offerings - or even tithing - and expect sympathy when they dont get to share in the Church wealth! The saying "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day! Teach him to fish and he eats for life!" comes to mind! Trouble is that some members think "But you are rich! Gimmee, gimmee, gimmee!" and they want to hear nothing like "You need to start inputting something, to get something out!" Try getting them to accept that they need to pay tithing, and they resist ferociously. Then try to get them to introduce the concept of budgetting, and they throw their hands up in the air!

I know that it must be really difficult to handle members who live well beyond their means, and still be a popular leader! I cannot say things like, "you need to budget!" when their first reaction is "You drive some really expensive cars - You must be loaded! What relevance is there in what you have to say to me! How can you possibly understand poverty?"

Today I looked around the whole (not literally) of Empangeni, looking for "Wing mirror socks" ( rear view mirror covers that are the SA flag!). These tie onto the wing mirrors to show some patriotism. They were first (that I know of) introduced as a patriotism thing for the Soccer World Cup. The current Missionery Couple saw the ones on my Landrover, and want some! I wanted to buy them some, but no luck until I went into the last spares shop before you leave Empangeni. I bought some a few months before the Soccer World Cup, and paid R 150 for them! Sure I was ripped off, but the gentleman who sold them to me, looked like he needed a square meal!

Anyway, I found the last pair available in Empangeni and they would accept no cash for them! If you see a car around Salt Lake City with strange color wing mirrors, chances are that the owner will have been in SA! Sure the Soccer World Cup is over (Bafana Bafana did not get past the first round!) but I am still happy to live in SA - where the sun shines! I am still proud of my country - and a talk from the recent Priesthood session confirms to me that "Pride" is not always a sin! Sure puffed up pride in yourself is a sin, but pride in where you live, or your family, cannot surely be a sin?

I am proud of my membership, and I defy anyone to tell me that this pride is a sin? Maybe the puffed up pride is what the Gospel refers to as a sin, and "righteous pride" actually has another name! I defy one of the members to say to me that all pride is a sin! I am proud of the Gospel, and that cannot be a sin - surely!