WILL WORK FOR FAVORS

The old bartering system goes back...well...maybe as far as mankind goes back.

When there was a need of one person for something that someone else had...there was an effort to 'trade' or 'work' for the exchange. Maybe it was food exchanged for merchandise...or one mans' labor in exchange for anothers'.

It seems some of our senior citizens are putting this system back into play...by exchanging their labor at state parks...for camping privileges there.

As with many things, now days, state parks have had to cut back on their expenses. For the most part...that means their full or part-time help had to be let go. Senior citizens with experience have volunteered to do the jobs of those staff members who were let go...by doing those tasks in exchange to park their campers there for housing. Let me live in my camper for free...and I'll do the chores for free.

Maybe we should apply this idea to some other things as well.

Last week, when Cindy & I were walking from our parking space to the basketball arena for a Purdue basketball game...we had to walk several blocks over snow packed sidewalks. Some folks had shoveled the snow, but too many hadn't...so it was a treacherous walk.

Cindy said...why doesn't the city get some of the people who are behind bars to exchange their time for a little community service? There should not be a snow-packed sidewalk in this city. Her idea is to hand out a few snow shovels and say..."who wants to spend a little less time behind bars...and repay your debts to society?" Or to the many men and women in the dozen homeless shelters in the city..."would you like to 'earn' what you've been given? Would you like to feel good about yourself by doing something for someone else?"

I suppose the real difference is...the senior citizens are doing it 'because they like it...and they want to'. Cindy's idea would be asking people to do something 'they don't really want to do'.

That's too bad...because...we all lose.


Dan