I am conflicted on Panda Express. It seems to me that it is cornering the Chinese food market by delivering a consistent, mediocre, product in a clean atmosphere. This isn't terrible if that is all you are looking for. The danger of course is that it leaves too small a market share for traditional "mom and pop" type restaurants. These local restauranteurs have often protected excellent family recipes for years only to find themselves without a customer base to serve. You could say that they have done it to themselves by too often neglecting the cleanliness of their establishments, or something else entirely. The subject is, honestly, too large and warrants a blog all it's own. The point of this post centers around the fortune that I found in my cookie.
My fortune read: Your principles mean more to you than any money or success.
This is a fine sentiment. It seems designed to build up my ego and make an easy excuse for my egregious poverty. In many ways it is a lie. Truth is I have never truly been given the choice between my principles and money. My initial reaction was to place it on my rearview mirror and pat myself on the back every time I checked traffic for a lane change. However, It began to gnaw at me almost immediately after I placed it in it's seat of glory.
In the first chapter of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book Life Together there is a sentence that reads thus: Our righteousness is an "alien righteousness" a righteousness that comes from outside of us (extra nos). Truth is, I am not so principled that I am above success or the pursuit of money. I spend copious amounts of my life chasing after unholy manna. My principles/priorities are God, Family, Country. If you look closely you will see that I probably spend more time on the baser principles of Cafe Today, Football, and iPhones. Not because I am making a conscious decision to place these things above the things that are truly important, but I probably do. Here I can honestly echo the words of the apostle Paul: For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. (Romans 7:15).
Sadly my abject poverty cannot be blamed on my pious behavior. I would love to be able to paint myself the holy martyr for principles in an immoral society, but the reality is much less noble. Like many in my field I simply struggle to turn bring home a decent paycheck. I can not hide behind a flimsy piece of paper with Lotto numbers printed on the back.
- Posted from my iPhone
