The Dance

This is a special dance and you won't see it featured on any show that starts with "Dancing with...." but millions of people are totally doing it every day. It involves maintaining the delicate balance between what you need, want and can afford. It's a hard dance to learn and virtually impossible to master, but I'll give you a  lesson to help you get started.

You first need to decide exactly how much of any one bill you have to pay in order to not be in trouble. This includes paying just enough to keep the lights on or the water flowing. This is the first step. You then twirl and shimmy your way around the other bills and list of things you and your family need until you find something you can manage with the meager amount that's left over from step one.

Repeat these steps, all day, every day, every month, forever. This dance is catching on like fire across the nation. Millions of people are doing it, including people that had once considered themselves too good for such activities. Low, middle and even some upper "class" people are finding the dance to be a necessity and yet few seem to be asking why?

I think the trick is to keep so many of us dancing that we are too exhausted, mentally and physically, to ask why we should be dancing at all. Why should we be making decisions that involve paying the minimum on our electric bill so we can buy enough overpriced gas to get to the grocery store where we'll pay inflated prices for food that's basically poison.

I want to stop the dance, how about you? I'd like to go to bed at night and not worry about if the rent check will go through before I get enough in the bank to cover it. I want to feel the constant weight of poverty off of my shoulders.

I don't think it's possible, It seems like we're continuing as far down the rabbit hole as possible. Maybe one day when it's all broken beyond recognition we'll make a change. Until then, let's dance.