May 18, 2009
My Aunt Bea was born on May 24, 1909. On Friday she, and we, will celebrate her 100th
Birthday.
This woman has experienced:
- The advent/popularization of: the automobile, telephone, airplane, phonograph, radio,
television, tape recorder, video recorder, microwave, cell phone, computer and the
internet - Men going to the Moon
- 2 World Wars
- 19 US Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was President when she was born)
- The Assassinations of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy
- The Great Depression
- 12 Recessions
- 31 Treasury Secretaries
This is a woman who has earned her own living for 100 Years. She did not come from
money. Her father was a share cropper in the rural south. Remember, she was born only forty
four (44) years after the Civil War ended, in a vanquished region, in an era when the poor were
really poor. She worked in factory jobs and was a waitress for most of her working years.
When I say she has earned her living for 100 Years, let me explain further. She bought a new
car when she was in her nineties. She quit driving before anyone told her she should. She lives
in an “assisted care facility” that costs a great deal of money each month.
She has looked at things realistically her entire life. Her approach has always been: what is
really the case rather than what I wish was the case? This approach to life has enabled her to
balance her income and expenses for 100 Years.
Now, this is not a woman who has lived an impoverished life even though her means were
modest. She has always looked and dressed sharp. Her hair is fixed, she has appropriate
makeup, and wears stylish jewelry, etc. The point is; she “balanced things.”
So, that is why I entitled this Blog, “Aunt Bea Should Be the Country’s Treasury
Secretary”. With all due respect to Secretary Geithner, if he can “balance things” as well as
Aunt Bea, he will be a fine Secretary indeed.
His challenge, and ours, is to look at things the way they actually are, rather than how we wish
they were. If we can afford something, and we either need it or want it, then let us purchase
it. If we cannot afford something, let us wait until we can. If we work hard and smart, both as
individuals and as a country, we can afford some luxuries like Aunt Bea has. But she could not
have everything all of the time, and neither can we.
Aunt Bea, probably cannot fit the Treasury Secretary job into her busy schedule, so we will have
to rely on others. I just hope that Secretary Geithner can do as well as Aunt Bea has for the last
100 Years.
Thanks,
Ted S. Miller
