the ant and the grasshopper

This morning, I read my favorite column on Yahoo Finance. The column is one of my favorites because they are well-written, usually thoroughly researched, and so easy to read. More often than not, I tend to agree with them. This particular column provided a view of today's economic mess through the lens of an old Aesop fable - the Ant and the Grasshopper. The Ant is the meticulous saver and the Grasshopper is the irresponsible squanderer. The column went on to say that times are tough right now and the Ants seem to be taking the brunt of it all, while Grasshoppers get the bailouts, continue to live irresponsibly and fail to learn the lesson. However, in the long run, the Ants still eat food and end up happy because they have been in control of their personal finances all along. This made me consider a few things:

I am an Ant and always will be. So is my husband, and so will our our future children. We live within our means. We have clearly defined financial goals, because of which we will be able to do all the things that we want to do. We were not born this way. We choose to live this way. For these things I am thankful.
However, we are going to be affected by the Grasshoppers in our lives (i.e., loved ones who live irresponsibly), whether we like it or not, because Ants are left cleaning up the mess. For this, I am furious. And not sure of a solution. Yet.
I do not have the ability to vote for better policy-makers, or change my family, but I do have the ability to to encourage people to vote for the candidate who will do the most responsible thing, not the one who will give the most handouts. I will continue to take opportunities to educate more people, like we did last year by leading a Financial Peace group.

In the meantime, we will continue to be Ants: in control of our finances, and responsible for our choices. We know that there is tremendous value in that.

"The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender" - Proverbs 22:7