THE HOME TOUR

We went on a house tour today in The North.
Our first one.

Five houses, four in woods of varying depth and one in deep woods and Great Lake frontage as well.

All houses would qualify as worthy of inspection by eager visitors willing to pay to support the local charity, school scholarships.

The village concerned is in financial difficulty but the five homeowners are not, to judge by appearances.

All were large, some very large, able to accommodate many people.
The smallest could bed down three or four couples easily.

Our reasons for going were to see places in the area we had never seen before; to meet people of the area; and to see the myriad of furnishings which we knew would be on display.

We were not disappointed.

The owners were successful professionals who had traveled widely and who had decorated and designed and placed their homes accordingly.
Several were gracious in welcoming visitors and we enjoyed the conversations.

It is a complex world we live in.

On the one hand, our nation is in the grip of financial setbacks. Unemployment and business closings are mounting and cities are finding it difficult to make payrolls and carry out their duties.

On the other hand, we today networked briefly with five families in our financially challenged society who are coping very nicely indeed.

What to make of all this?

One side of the political spectrum would have you believe that our economic system is broken, that all is in disarray, that radical measures of reform must be undertaken to avoid catastrophe.

Another side argues that radical measures are not the cure, that reform need only be moderate, not involving changes in the traditional ways of doing things.

And I suspect there are other arguments as well. The powers that be on both sides probably are more in agreement than they let on and the radicals are probably more conservtive than they let on.
At least I hope they are.

At any rate, we glimpsed a bit of the upper crust today.
We are not of the upper crust.

We have no chance of ever being there.

But we believe that our society needs such a crust, that it is a part of the greater scheme of things.
We suggest that it is not a bad thing, that it is not exploiting the rest of us, that it contributes far more than the enemies of our economic system would have you believe.

The Good Book says the poor we shall have with us always.
I suspect that we shall have the uppers with us also.

I hope we will.