Here in America

I don't smoke, but maybe there's a lesson here for people who do.

At a New Hampshire gas station, a man purchased a pack of cigarettes using his debit card. When he checked his account online a few hours later, he saw that those nicotine-sticks had cost him over $23 quadrillion dollars.

That's right. A quadrillion. 17 digits. Bank of America said his purchase cost $23,148,855,308,184,500. That's quadrillions, trillions, billions, millions, thousands, and hundreds, if you're trying to say that number out loud.

And you thought I was kidding.

+++

HERE IN AMERICA

We vote against raising taxes to pay for hospitals and schools, but will pay whatever they ask for booze and cigarettes.

We ask the Government to balance our national budget, then drop our last few dollars on a down payment for a car that will take five years to pay off.

We know the line-up of nearly every major sports team, but mumble through the words to our national anthem.

We'll spend all morning looking for the vitamins we bought to live longer, then drive 90 miles per hour to make up for the time we lost.

We tie up our dogs but let our teens run wild.

We'll work hard on a farm so we can make enough money to move into the city where we'll work hard so we can retire on a farm.

In the office we talk about baseball, shopping, fishing and family. At the game, the mall, or the lake we talk about the office.

We're supposed to be the most civilized nation on Earth, but we still can't deliver payrolls without an armored car.

We have more marriage experts than any other country and still have the highest divorce rate in the world.

[selected from Pastor Tim's Illustrations]

+++

WORDS for YOUR WEEK: "It is an old and ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way." (Rollo May)

+++

Mark's Musings is available via RSS Feed and also e-mail each weekday. Get your own subscription here. If you're reading this on Facebook, my full blog is here.