What can we learn about personal finances by observation of natural selection? Why should we even care?
Nature doesn’t care if a system is natural or man-made. It just goes about it’s business. This was bought home to me in a very “natural” way recently when a tree in the backyard where I stay was hit by a very strong wind.
In the very recent past someone made an observation that this tree needed pruning. The branches were past their prime extension and dangerously overhung the house. The reasons to not prune the branches were that they provided needed shade from the harsh summer sun for the patio and the house. “ After all, isn’t this the main reason we grow these trees so close to the house?”
I conceded the fact that the shade was nice but argued that the tree should either be pruned by an arborist or nature will do so for them.
Along came the wind. 10 seconds or less of fury accompanied by very little rain. The wind seemed to pick up the most crucial shade-producing limbs and fold them over the rest of the tree, snapping them off in a random pattern. Very little damage was done to buildings. We were very lucky. The tree was not.
Now, as I type, the limbs that were snapped off are laying in a haphazard montage of chain-sawed logs and piles of leaves waiting for final disposition.
The tree, having lost nearly one entire side of it’s branches, will have to be pruned to help it recover from the devastation.
There is no longer any shade in the area that once was a beautiful oasis from the summer sun and the tree that provided the shade will never again have the ability to provide that shade of which it did for the better part of 100 years.
It is a shame that we mourn the tree and not our actions or inactions. Laying the blame on nature is choosing by default. When a simple paring would have allowed the tree to better weather the storm should we be so concerned about our own shade that we let nature rip the tree to shreds?
What lesson is the most important that we take away from this entire life drama which is played out in every corner of humanity, every second of every day?
Using the tree an an analogy our observations can tell us that shade (personal comfort and free will) is less important than the healthy life ( financial security) of the tree (personal financial viability). The wind (personal debt) driven by the storm (financial institutions, taxes, expenses, financial emergencies) will never go away, and if not planned for will eventually ruin the party (living to get by) going on below (the patio).
Just a little down-home wisdom to pass on here. You’all heard the phrase “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” So what happens when the fisherman is in the mountains or the desert, or maybe stuck indoors due to the weather? Is knowing how to pare a tree really going to feed him? But if you learn to trade, that is the ticket. Yessiree! That you can do from anywhere!
