“Republican and Democrats agree: Wealth disrupted too lopsided in the United States. Is there a solution?” ~ Cynthia G. Creel

“Republican and Democrats agree: 

Wealth disrupted too  lopsided in the United States.  

Is there a solution?”  

~ Cynthia G. Creel  

I stood in line at the store with just one item to buy. It is amazing how little I have to purchase now that I am on the True Path of Health. I was happily looking at the brightly magazine covers when the conversation between the girl at the cash register and the man trying to buy his the 2 items with just a handful of change caught my attention. As he counted he kept talking about wanting to buy cigarettes, something this store didn't sell and not liking this town.

It didn't take to long to realize this person in front of me was most likely homeless and the girl behind the counter, “Sally” just wanted him to go away, avoiding eye contact like the black plague. Sally projected a feeling of being so uncomfortable with him that I wouldn't doubt that she would just pass him on the street without even a glance of recognition that he existed. This is too common of a reaction between those who have and those who do not.

It is interesting that the people who have feel as if becoming a have not is impossible, it could never happen to them and it must be the person who doesn't have’s fault. It is amazing how close many of us are to becoming the one’s with or without. A very fine line indeed.

It took me only a few seconds to asses the situation to find a way of helping these two, not with money, but with a simple action. I gained eye contact with the gentleman and asked him if he was having a good day. There was no one behind me and so I took this moment to decide how to proceed to help the most with him, not knowing if he was high or mentally ill or just down on his luck. All I could think of was how he was so needy and couldn't afford to loose any of his inner energy and she was so frustrated she could only take from him. The reality was both were taking from each other and loosing that inner energy into space. He could afford to loose nothing and needed strength leaving him even more helpless and she would most likely feel drained after this encounter.

The moment I asked a question he answered with so much more than a simple yes. I could see his brain working and one of the largest imaginary bricks in his head preventing little movement of thought from occurring. There was someone home that was a prisoner of his own body, a life sentence with only a possibility of parole when the decision to change, to step on to the path of True Health, could release him. It would be so easy to just have stepped to another line and let Sally deal with the person in need. I could not walk away, if I walked away I would leave him behind and he would never have much of a chance to escape his undesirable world of being hounded by the need of a certain substance. I knew no matter what I did it would not change much, just some, a nudge in the right direction. Maybe something for him to hang on to in the darkest part of his life that would help him make just one better decision. I could not save him, he needed to save himself and that would only be possible if he had helping hands to lift him up, steady him until he could walk on his own again.

He said, “My name is Jerry. I have tried cocaine, meth, weed, etc. and the only reason I stopped was because I ran out of money. This town is so stressful I just want to go back to Minneapolis, where I know everything.” He kept talking about himself trying to get help from anyone that would listen.

I looked into his blue eyes and said, “ Why don’t I walk you outside and show you the other stores you can buy cigarettes from that are near here.” He agreed and as we walked outside Sally mouthed the words, “Thank you”. I helped her and I had hoped she understood what I had just done besides get him out of her hair.

This gave me a few minutes more to impart an idea that might help, just a little. I had made him feel human again just for a few minutes, giving him a feeling of being someone with a look a soft voice. These are things that can only happen when someone is on a path of True Health. They can be attempted and can be faked very well. The body that tells the truth 24/7 can not be faked, we can lie to others, we can lie to ourselves, our bodies tell the truth 100% of the time even when we ignore what it is telling us. The voice does not have the same qualities, the eyes do not look as clear or bright, the skin is not as colorful and the hair is not as soft and smooth without True Health. It can not come from a box of color or make up or whitener it is naturally there when a body is performing the way it was designed.

As we walked I talked for a moment of how difficult it was to have something like drugs control your life, how they made you trade everything just to have them with you. How I understood the cravings for something that hurt you and took from you without giving back, mine was legal just things like candy and such. Jerry nodded in agreement as we slowly walked. Outside I pointed to the other stores and tried to give him the idea to buy healthy that would help him not to be so needed. I knew without someone there to hold his hand and help him all day the pull of the cigarettes would win out. He would not have the memory needed to stay on the path of True Health. I did what I had time and energy for and talked to him for another 10 minutes as he told me his life story and the fact that he was so old at 50. I had not broken eye contact once and softly said, “I am 53.” The message was said in those 3 little words. Jerry looked at me questioning with his eyes how could this be and said, “You are so beautiful!”

That brought the biggest smile to my face and his. He was no longer the man in total need, I was no longer a women who had more things then him. We were equal just for that moment making the human connection. I told him about a place where he could get a free meal, knowing that was the best I could offer, also knowing what they would feed him would be cheap food that would take from him. It would fill his stomached and steal his soul at the same time. Most likely still a step up of what he would do on his own.

I smiled once again and nudged him in the direction to buy something worth his few dollars left, knowing he would not. I said good bye and good luck, smiled and turned to walk to my car. I could feel the energy he now had, I could feel the energy that I had. Together we created more than either of us had before. I hoped that would last him as long as it lasted me and he would make one good choice today. The choice that would bring him one bit closer to becoming who he should have been to begin with a person able to give to society instead of take from society. I knew it wasn't all his fault that others who had a solitary goal of profits pushed him down a path that he could not resist once he was there or know how to undo the hold of the “dragons claw”. When Jerry ran out of money they would no longer care. Leaving a defenseless man in the wood with a hungry “dragon” to devour him or just hold tight just barley letting him move.

It doesn't not take money to be successful, to be happy with peace within, it take a life that is not in need. Some money can help to a point, giving the ability to purchase the basic needs of life, beyond that there can not be much success. Some of the richest people I know do not have True Success. They have money with a marginal amount of success. I often wonder what would they pay to always feel healthy, to feel a warmth inside like no other? That if they laid there sick and feeling weak and needy, what would they trade for that feeling of strength? Would it be their money that can not buy what they need at the last moments of life? Not bought, it is created by each person. What can be bought is a person to teach how to become the person that could be. This is the gift I have to give, I am not always paid for the gift, I am not always recognized what I set in play. When I use my gift the best most don’t even understand what I have done. Don’t get me wrong it would be great if everyone earned money from what they truly create, sometimes payment enough is knowing that I have something many others do not have, most likely, without a helping hand will never obtain because they will not be able to remember or be willing to part with their money or time. I see other’s who will learn, they are like I was a prisoner of my own body some do this on their own or look for a short cut with help from someone like me. They will escape and be able to think, plan and act.

There would be no plan to help people like Jerry that would be truly effective. If there was one in place Jerry would not be the way he currently stood. I see a need with no real understanding how to fix the underlying problems. I often wish I was one of the 1% of the United States that control 40% of the wealth. (2) That would give me the funds to set up programs that addressed the issues. The issues can not be solved with out money and the understanding of how to help others help themselves. My hopes would be to set up a foundation to help others help themselves to bring up the lowest levels to above the poverty line thus helping all to do better not just here in the United States, but the world.

I often think of my great grandfather, my mom’s, mom’s father who was a contractor, building railroads and damns and becoming an inventor at the end of his days working on the idea of perpetual motion as an energy source. Having true wealth at the time demonstrated by the fact he lived in 300 room mansions with English gardens and large stables full of horses. With my grandmother playing hid and seek hiding behind the chair made for a tiger’s body with the arms of the chair ending with the poor animals paws. Buying a new car each year. With all of this wealth a mind set of a person unable to think beyond himself gave only stories to be told and remembered by future generations for my great grandfather had one thought he never wanted to be killed for his money and so he spent it all. I often wondered if he had thought differently where would I be now? Of course I would most likely not have the same in-depth understanding of the world skipping though good times and bad that have helped me to understand when push comes to shove what is truly important. No matter what is, is and there is no changing the past, just move into the future creating something better than before.

I think about how easy money is made and how thoughts change if you have it verses if you don’t. How the distribution of wealth in America has changed dramatically over the last 30 years (2) How lopsided things have gotten. The way people think things are and the reality are quit different as Associate professor of business Michael I. Norton a Harvard alumni learned from the taking a survey and finding that among the 5,000 surveyed there is a pattern of thinking that wealth is more evenly distributed in the United States verses the reality of the top 1% controlling 40% of all of the wealth in the United States. It is not a matter of equal distributing the wealth, socialism, it is a matter of having a fair balance. Most of the people surveyed thought that the wealthy had more around 10 to 20 times more than others. Even with the wealthy having more it still left no one below the poverty line, no one in total need do to lack of money. The reality is in the Untied States of America the people with the smallest amount of wealth don’t even register on this chart. There is not much of a difference between the poorest and the middle class who are barely different than the poor. In the United States the 10 to 20th percentile are well off, yet not as well off as most surveyed anticipated, leaving the top 2 percent more wealthy than what could be shown on this chart and the top 1% holding on to 40% of the Untied States Wealth. Unbelievably wealthy to most and incomprehensible to the average person or I might say even the somewhat wealthy person. Leaving the bottom 80% of the Untied States with only 7% of the wealth to share. No matter if you are Republican or Democrat the common answer was a better distribution of wealth was ideal.

When a person has wealth they can create more wealth into becoming the super wealthy. When a person has little wealth they are left with almost no money to invest or none and have to focus solely on survival, leaving little or no time to think of anything else unless there is an equalizer.

The unhealthy of America has been estimated at 80%, I believe this is runs from least wealth to most wealth, affecting all groups. Some groups more than others. Being unhealthy creates this inequity either being unable to move forward or unable to see how wealth can help the needs of others to help others help themselves. Instead of just collecting more money because they can. The wealthy get caught up in not loosing their wealth and giving some away only when it feels safe or for a tax incentive verses the poorest of the United States has more of a problem of having little and giving most of it away creating an unsustainable life style and a need that never ends.

The two are like the chicken and the egg. The wealthy invest, I believe most often to create more wealth (one reason we see so few with so much wealth) only concerned a company give them an increased return on their investment. The companies who receive the investment become fixated on giving the investor their just rewards creating a return as high a return as possible on their investments most likely without another goal in mind. In doing so they have only concentrated on how to sell more. Even when doing charitable acts they tie the giving to selling like “We will give 10 cents to the breast cancer society for every yogurt we sell. Just send in those pink lids and we will donate.” Would they even bother if the sales didn’t go up or profit. And why make people send in the labels, they know how much is being sold, except they know not every person will send in those pink lids. Another way to increase profits.

There are companies who lead us down a path that is beautifully landscaped with profit as their goal, no thought of a more complex goal of profit plus the better good of all. The masses happily travel down this path thinking it is good, not understanding who they are helping.

The companies I think are more responsible for this change in distribution of wealth. The company and their leadership moving us with a heavily balanced wealth at one end of the scale, the average CEO in the United States earning in one hour what the average worker would earn in one month. If a CEO can have a lateral and universal thinking when making decisions then the companies are lead in a different way to considered more then profit and reach a companies true potential for creating good and making profits. Instead of living a limited positive impact and a large gaping hole of the negative impact. A CEO is only limited by the ability to think, plan and act, leading a company to different results then when limited abilities are relied on.

Thirty years ago in 1976 in 1976 the riches took home only 9% almost tripling in only 30 years to the rich taking home about 24%. With the CEO’s now on the average earning more then 380 times more than the average worker. (2)

With the companies and the CEO’s looking like the big bad wolf gobbling up the little pigs, all is not their responsibility. The many who helped create this inequality of wealth had their role in this matter. They may or may not have been pushed down a path, but they made choices to take the United States down the same path, hand in hand. The person who decided to buy something gave their “vote”, their money, to the companies who gave part of that money to the investor who keep it or reinvested it to gain more.

The poorest person who elects to buy something off the “dollar menu” is voting for cheap food that takes from them. Having been a person at one time or another who has found it necessary to decide what to buy with little money in my pocket, I soon discovered that the money spent where it was advertised as a “great” deal was usually my worst choice. I made plenty of poor choices almost costing my life creating a body that was broken and a mind that struggled to function. Now that I am on the Path of True Health I find if I only had a small amount of change in my pocket I would buy the unadvertised foods. For the same $1 I would have a meal that helps me think, plan and act with no cooking necessary. The reality is we do not need more money or more food in the United States or possible the world. We need people who are healthy to make better choices to nudge companies with their “vote” of money to offer what is needed to help not hurt.

The equalizer to having wealth better distributed with the most wealthy being only 10 or 20 times more wealthy than the poorest and the poorest being above the poverty line is when most people become Truly Healthy, to think, plan and act with a purpose beyond surviving or beyond creating more wealth.

The only way this will happen in the Untied States is if we all make better choices and place our vote of money to the companies that are producing the correct items that help us not hold us back. If we do not buy it they will not make it. The people have the power to change with the mass buying power, but only if most act with the same thought in mind to be on the path of True Health. They will change because we change. Hope and a dollar can change the world for the better for ourselves, for our children and their children and so on and so on. We are in this together and we can work together for a better tomorrow. We all have that ability no matter wealth or not.

By Design ~ “Life is good By Design”



Photo by Cynthia G. Creel all rights reserved ©2013


3-2-2013 all rights reserved ©2013 written permission is needed to duplicate

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of By Design or Cynthia G. Creel. Consultation of a medical professional is highly recommended before any changes are considered. This article is not saying anyone person in a leadership position is unhealthy or healthy, it is just a possibly of many and is only speaking in general terms. .

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Sources:


(1) http://harvardmagazine.com/2011/11/what-we-know-about-wealth

(2) http://www.upworthy.com/9-out-of-10-americans-are-completely-wrong-about-this-mind-blowing-fact-2?c=bl3

(3) http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=326229micheal’s page