Interesting fortune as we just got a new car and are looking for a new house...
Actually, I'm thinking about non-monetary debt- the kind we run up with friends and family. I do "this" for someone, and they do "that" for me. But who keeps score? I have a bit of a tally in my head- if my kid goes to a play date at someone's house, I feel like next time I should host the play date. However, having a little baby changes that somewhat. Friends offer to take my older kids, and I let them, without feeling like I have to repay. One friend took the kids swimming with her daughter, and when they got back I fed them all dinner, but that just happened to work out.
J and S, from my heart family helped out sooooo much in getting this house ready to sell. J cleaned every inch of the bathrooms, while S worked miracles on the yard in the hot Texas sun. Then they came back a month later, with more garden work for S and baby care for J. That's not the kind of debt I can repay- and being family, I don't have to.
It's nice to have the kind of relationships where debt isn't tallied and called in.
1 comment:
I appreciate this idea, too. People have different ways to give. Keeping a tally makes one person feel resentful and the other feel guilty.
So it seem so me you should give with joy, not expecting anything in return. And then, when you need something ask, trusting that the other person, in their saying yes, is willing to give out of their own generosity and not to create debt....
.... of course that's easier said than experienced. But wouldn't it be nice if we could all be that mature!
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