Money Is Power

At the risk of repeating this blog post, I believe money is power. Financial independence is the freedom to exercise this power that’s consistent with your values and ethics. Those struggling from paycheck to paycheck are powerless. Their ability to mold circumstances is severely limited. The only, I repeat only, reason to strive for financial freedom is to maintain control of an ever-changing world.

You may not be able to control all the stress and misfortune that life has to offer. But with a little bit of money, your intelligence and know-how will pull you through.

These thoughts have been bouncing about in my mind this week, as my wife and I have tried to deal with a situation that we find quite unacceptable.

Money is power. Power allows for options. Options are crucial to choice.

Choice brings solutions.

Pride and Joy

As most parents, my children are my pride and joy. One of the vast benefits of financial independence is to be able to provide for them materially as well as emotionally. While we continue to be frugal, I’m willing to loosen the purse strings when the benefit for my children is clear.

I received a phone call from the school nurse on Monday that my thirteen year old son had repeatedly been hit in the face by another student during lunchtime. My son, almost five feet tall and all of 65 pounds, is an incredibly kind and gentle soul. His impression of heaven is cuddling dogs and cats and playing with electronics. Parent teacher conferences are full of praise on how kind, sweet, and caring he is.

Yet, this is the third episode this year, where he has been tackled, manhandled, or punched. Mostly by people that he doesn’t even know (he didn’t know the name of this last attacker). Investigations, each time, have shown that he played little role in these confrontations.

He was an innocent bystander.

When I came to pick him up at the nurses office, he had a large bump on his forehead where one of the multiple punches had landed. I was furious.

Decisions

Being a physician has taught me many things. Some good, some bad. But I used my most frightening techniques of persuasion learned from fighting for my patient’s lives, when I lambasted the school administrator that afternoon.

The topic of in-school violence is well above and beyond the scope of this blog. Needless to say that there is a tremendous lack of empathy in the culture set by the school district. The administrators are powerless, and their punishments are toothless.

But, the point of all this rambling, is to remember that we have choices. We pulled my daughter out of the same district for similar reasons, and sent her to private school. The private school is wonderful, bullying is almost nonexistent, and the quality of education is superior.

This comes at a cost. $20,000 a year. A cost that many can’t afford.

Money is power. And being financially independent allows me the freedom to remove my son from this school district and pay for something better. The ultimate privilege.

Will We Change Schools?

This is the subject of intense debate in our household at the moment.

If we were debt ridden and living on the edge, this debate would be a luxurious dream.

It certainly wouldn’t be our reality.