Can you see it?

Yes, what to do, what to do? Have you thought about it? I have. As I'm a real lover of words -- I'll confess -- I think I need to mull this "property" thing over a bit. Let's see where it takes us.

George Carlin would just call it "stuff", but we know that property is more than just stuff. Property, for a good many people ... maybe even most ... is what defines who they think they are. Be honest, just why do you drive that particular model vehicle parked in front of that particular house? Don't they tell just about everyone "who you are"? It's sad, I know, but that's how we think these days. Now, let me ask you this: do you own either? If you are leasing or still have payments on the car, and if you rent or have a mortgage on the house, regardless of what you think, you must answer with "no". Until that final payment is made and title is transferred to you, all you payment-makers are just the caretakers, regardless of how we have decided to phrase it. Not having title and saying you own something is about as meaningful as asking someone "How are you?" You don't want to know, it's just an odd way to say hello.

Our problem is, we do identify with our stuff and with our potential stuff, and we too often think that what we have says something about who we are. Well, it does in a way, but not in the way most of us would like to think. If you have a nice car and house, that's great, but neither of them make you a "better person", regardless of how you understand the phrase, than anyone else on the planet. What we have, at bottom, says nothing about who we really are. Who we are is determined by how we act, how we are perceived by others, it is how we act that lets others know who and what we really are. Actions always speak louder than words. Always.

Could it be that this is what good, old Uncle John was getting at? As long as any of us think that any of our possessions (or potential possessions) puts us at advantage over others who don't have what we do, we cause injustice to arise. When we think, because of our possessions (or potential possessions), that we have "more at stake" than others who don't have what we do, we put injustice into practice. When we believe, because of our possessions (or potential possessions), that we have have been endowed with more rights than others who don't have what we do, then we are simply part of the reason why the world's in the sad shape it is in.

Things can never be more important than people.