Mr. Wendal

The other day, I was listening to some old music in my music library and happened across the Arrested Development song "Mr. Wendal". Remember that song? It was big back in its day. I still love it. I love most of their songs really but when I listened to it again some points really resonated with me.

Here, have a dollar,
in fact no brotherman here, have two
Two dollars means a snack for me,
but it means a big deal to you
Be strong, serve God only,
know that if you do, beautiful heaven awaits
That's the poem I wrote for the first time
I saw a man with no clothes, no money, no plate
Mr.Wendal, that's his name,
no one ever knew his name cause he's a no-one
Never thought twice about spending on a ol' bum,
until I had the chance to really get to know one
Now that I know him, to give him money isn't charity
He gives me some knowledge, I buy him some shoes
And to think blacks spend all that money on big colleges,
still most of y'all come out confused

Mr.Wendal has freedom,
a free that you and I think is dumb
Free to be without the worries of a quick to diss society
for Mr.Wendal's a bum
His only worries are sickness
and an occasional harassment by the police and their chase
Uncivilized we call him,
but I just saw him eat off the food we waste
Civilization, are we really civilized, yes or no ?
Who are we to judge ?
When thousands of innocent men could be brutally enslavedand killed over a racist grudge
Mr.Wendal has tried to warn us about our ways
but we don't hear him talk
Is it his fault when we've gone too far,
and we got too far, cause on him we walk
Mr.Wendal, a man, a human in flesh,
but not by lawI feed you dignity to stand with pride,
realize that all in all you stand tall

For me, I think it really resonated with me because I realized how this journey of getting out of debt has really changed me as a person. I feel like I am finally able to get off the treadmill that people run on, trying to always have the newest car, the right clothes, and a house full of crap only to find out that what they have now acquired is "passé" and they have to buy all new crap to keep up. Its good for me to step back when I'm thinking of buying something, and think that a large portion of the world lives without a lot of the crap that I take for granted, things like hot showers, running water or even food to eat.

This new "simplicity" approach to life is much saner for me. It feels good to have less stuff crowding my life (by the way I just sold some more stuff on ebay and got about $50). I think once I have my debt paid off I will finally be in control of my life. I'll have the control to make smarter career choices, the control to help people and the control live the kind of life that I want to live. That's what money is there for, right?