The Philosophy of Metal and Paper

They’re all your friends. You know them by name, yet you sometimes can’t recall their faces. I will bet one of their friends against you that you’re carrying at least one of them. They’re probably in your purse, pocket, or wallet right now. Yeah, I’m speaking of Abe, Thomas, Franklin, George,John, Alexander, Andrew, Ulysses, and Ben. The great presidents of our past cast on either a piece of metal or sheet of paper. We worship these presidents and wish we had more of them each day. Well, I shouldn’t say that we worship the presidents as much as we worship the paper or metal they are printed on.
A friend of mine the other day was talking about how much money Donald Trump and Bill Gates have. How they don’t have to worry for the rest of their lives about money, and they can buy whatever they want and still be wealthy. Well, I laughed to myself when this thought popped into my head:
“They don’t have a lot of money, what they have is a lot of paper!”
It’s true. Once these guys die, they will be left with nothing but their souls. They can take their money with them to the grave, but the six feet below the earth is as far as the money is going to travel, while their souls can have a greater voyage.
I don’t know either Donald or Bill, so I’m not sure how they spend their money. From what I’ve seen on television and read, Bill Gates has a huge heart for people that are in need and is always donating his money. Which is awesome. Donald, on the other hand, is constantly telling me to use American Express, stay at his luxurious hotel in Florida, or play on one of his many golf courses. Both of these guys, as well as others that are fortunate enough to be rich, should be donating most of their money. I mean what’s the use of having twelve houses around the world and fifteen cars that are worth a quarter million a piece anyway?
Yet each piece of money can teach us something. They all encompass certain qualities despite their different colors, physical composition, and faces. Each piece of money has embedded on them five distinct worths, not the worth you’re probably thinking about, but a pedagogical worth. There is literally a spiritual value in money to be understood.

“Worth—Anyone have a Quarter?”
Imagine this world without a sense of worth. It’s a hard to do, actually it’s an impossible thought. Most of the world that I have come across has a worth, at least that’s how we tend to label all things, from love to books to television to God to dogs to religions and even to people. We all have price tags attached to our bodies and there are some trying to mark us down on clearance. Some tend to think they are a Banana Republic product and all others are a second-hand shirt from Goodwill. Yet, I’m pretty sure we’re all Gucci.
Worth is a word that doesn’t hold the characteristic of equality, or of same value—it can, but most of the time its usage is in a comparitive manner. In the common world, worth has either a greater or lesser value to something that it is being compared.
For instance, have you ever noticed that certain words are capitalized? Capitalization speaks of worth. It represents the importance of a certain person or thing. The word ‘chair’ isn’t capitalized which means that it isn’t of great worth, yet we must notice that the names of people are. Seriously, have you ever come across a person whose name wasn’t capitalized?
“Hello, my name is Michael.”
“Hi, it’s nice to meet you. My name is bob.”
“Oh, well, hello Bob.”
“No, it’s bob, not Bob.”
This shows that human beings are of worth, which signifies that all people should be valued, cherished, and loved unconditionally and continuously.
We love to be told that we are of worth, don’t we? When someone tells you that you are beautiful or pretty—that’s a sense of worth. Or being told the powerful words, “I love you.” This is a sense of worth. They are telling us something that we know they are able to tell anyone else in the world, but rather the words touch our skin and nobody else’s, therefore, a sense of value is powerful in the mind of a human being.
Jesus showed us an example of worth 2,000 years ago on a cross. He loved us so much that he died so that we could live, so that we can represent the power of love like He defined. He lived and died not for one person but for the world, for us Guccis. This speaks of our worth according to God, to the One who created us, gives us life, and the One who takes pleasure in us, and we in Him. To die for millions He had never seen nor talked to… now that’s a perfect example of a sense of worth, furthermore, that’s love.




“E Pluribius Unum”
We’ve read this statement hundreds of times, yet what the heck does it mean? You’re probably saying, “Those words are just Greek to me! I don’t understand them.” It’s a funny thing you said that, because they are. The language is actually Latin, which was spoken by most of those who were ruled by the Roman Empire. It’s actual meaning is “From many, one” or “Out of many, one.”
The e in Latin translates ‘out of many, or from,’ pluribus simply means ‘many,’ and unum signifies ‘one.’ The founding fathers intitiated the idea that the many inhabitants of this great nation are unified as a group, or as one. We also notice our nation’s name embedded on the piece of metal or paper: United States of America, which this name again reminds us of our accord, yet carrying, States, the characteristic of being plural .
We have a belief that this nation is formed of a million different people, a million different backgrounds, a diverse country of citizens, and it’s all true, we do have a very diverse group of inhabitants, but we see them as different, unlike us, weird, uncivilized, and we establish a ‘not good enough for me, becaust they’re different’ ideal. We perceive the nation, or even the world, as several and never as ‘one.’ Individuality is key to the world but it doesn’t have to separate us. I must ask you, ‘Who granted everyone life on earth?’ Each characteristic given to an individual that has walked or is walking the earth was sculpted by the hands of our very own Maker. Every breathing being is given life, so who are we to say that we aren’t one huge family?
Jesus speaks of believers being of unity, not as many but as one:
“I pray for those who will believe in me through their
(disciples) message, that all of them may be one”
-John 17:20-21

He doesn’t illustrate, “Some of them or most of them, the Baptists, the Methodists, or the Presbyterians.” He states, “All of them.” A connected inclusion of the world that God has made, and that the world will believe that He sent Jesus for others to perceive the incarnate Truth and Love.




"Liberty"
The country we live in resonates of liberty and hope. With each turn of our head, we notice that every individual has freedom, whether it’s freedom of religion, press, or expression. We have the right to do whatever we feel compelled to do, don’t we? We’re blessed to live in a country in which it allows us the right to strive in order to better our lives.
A friend of mine last night was telling me this story about Morrocan slavery. How the country has become a human trafficking system for women, men, and children. The women and girls are forced to work as maids and even worse, human exploitation; meanwhile, the men and boys in transit are used for strenuous labor. After I was sucked into his story, he began to tell me about their fight to escape from the danger of trafficking. These people, searching for freedom, would be in very small boats, which creates two problems: One, there are police guards on the shores shooting at these escapees in order to avert their journey of hope. Small boats with an overload of people creates instability. Two, the waters that are below the boats are shark infested. My friend told me a lot of times, these escapees would turn the boat over purposely, in order to protect themselves from the flying bullets being shot at them from the shores. Unfortunately, their protection isn’t much of an assistance, because the sharks in the area wait for these people to fall into the waters. “The slavery is brutal and the journey is even worse,” he told me, “and these people are only searching for a better life.”
And my response was, “Aren’t we all.”
Nobody is content with the ordinary, we all want what is better. But the problem is, what is better? Think of your own life. I can guarantee that you are in a search for something better. Engage the opening, strive for it because we are given the opportunity to do so.
Paul writes in Romans about the power of slavery. Slavery is being represented in two aspects: sin and righteousness. Which Paul goes on to elaborate on the question: what are we slaves to? And the answer is:
“You are slaves to the one whom you obey.”
-Romans 6:16
Jesus is the key to the lock of our shackles, the One that has power to liberate. The Law of Liberty, according to James is:
“The man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.”
-James 2:25
So what is this perfect law? Love. The law that gives us freedom, which is the opportunity to better ourselves in the world. We already have the freedom of speech, religion, and press. Love has only one purpose and that it is to be given. If everyone in this world gives one another love, then who would be absent of it?
Once this happens, we have all experienced freedom.

“In God We Trust!…well, sometimes.”
Isn’t it funny that ‘In God We Trust’ is stamped on our money? I think it’s hilarious. Provided the fact that some of us need a piece of green paper or shiny metal to remind us that we trust God.
But it is written on something else more profound: our souls.
I have never been one of those people who has been on his knees, crying and praying for God to give some kind of miracle, but I’ve been close. My life has been blessed, yet I have experienced darkness and deterioration of my own soul.
I’ve had friends that have been on their knees, because they tried everything they could to stay strong and stand up on their own in life, yet despair and doubt was too much. This was the moment when gravity took the rest of their strength, and they asked God for some direction and help.
I had a younger girl last week, who I have never met before, comment on a picture of my dog Eli on Myspace (he tries to be a stud). I messaged her back with gratitude, saying thank you and asked where she was from. We talked back and forth for a couple of days and something profound and unexpected happened: she opened up to me all of these problems she was having. This wasn’t just an opening of a jar, but the breach of a dozen five-gallon buckets all at once. She told me that she had quit doing drugs and was trying to get her life back on the correct path…meaning God. A couple weeks before she gave her life to Jesus. She said, “I went to the front of the church and gave it all up, submitted it all to Him. I couldn’t do it anymore on my own.”
In the lowest of our states, we choose God. When people ask for help, essentially they are asking for someone to trust. When we ask for trust, we’re searching for truth, for a higher understanding, and some kind of crutch to stabilize our lives. Jesus knew the suffering of the poor in His time. He understood that the weak were willing to change because they had the most important thing to give…their lives. In the darkest depths of life to the highest summits, we can always find God. The darkest depths, although, can move any soul in this world to Him.
God made a majority of this life to be about relationships, whether the connection is between human and human or human and God. Take from Jesus’ examples:
When He would heal a leaper, He would touch them, not magically wiggle a wand from ten feet and poof! they’re healed. Leapers were not touched by anyone besides another leaper. They had their own communities, and to this day, still do. People knew this disease was contagious, yet we see Jesus in interaction with them, touching their skin, and not worrying about sickness. It’s all about interaction, connection, and trust in God.
Sometimes, we say to ourselves, “In God We should Trust, yet Ben Franklin feels a little more trustworthy, so he and I are going to buy a couple of brand new pair of jeans tonight.” What is it that we really trust? A piece of green paper? or something our soul is yearning for? Often times, being on the consumer side of advertising is a price we pay for living in America. We must always buy the newest of the new, in order to be one amongst the coolest of the cool. It’s also the downfall of being human, which means our mind is always wanting, but we must listen to our spirit which is yelling, “Give!…Give!…Give!”

"Date"
Each bill and coin has a date printed upon it. Pulling change from my own pocket makes me chuckle because the earliest dated coin I have is 1985. This is the year I was born. They range from 1985 up to last year, 2006. The newer coins, of course, are shinier, less worn, and look cooler. The dates can remind us of the history the world has experienced. When we look at a coin, for example in the year 1945, some are reminded that this year was when World War II ended. Or the year 1969, when America successfully sent men to the moon. Each year has thousands of memories, each remembrance is unique depending on the beholder.
I ask myself sometimes, “I wonder how many people have touched this penny?” Then I put it into my mouth.
Just kidding.
With the passing of generations and the perpetual movement of life, we must remind ourselves and all others the value of money, the spiritual importance. The lessons they can teach us:
The message of worth: Being humble and thankful of the life given to us by God. We can’t truly love God until we can love the life that He has blessed us with. We are loved and of great value to Him.
The unity of life: One, but many. Despite theologies in the church, we all have one common belief: Jesus, which is the most important belief of all and through Him we are united.
Freedom: We have the power to choose our path. A life that brings life, or a life that brings death and destruction. Freedom to love or to hate, to connect or disconnect, to live or to die.
Faith: Living for the day God has given us, and fully trusting Him in that day granted. Understanding the good in the bad, and thanking Him for the opportunity to experience such a moment.
Time: With each minute, there lies a second, within that second lies a moment which is the chance to pass something that will not die with time. That something is Jesus, who is Love incarnated.