Judge Not, Someone is Watching You Too

Last week a friend of mine on facebook posted photos she had taken last summer of her little daughter. Nothing unusual about the photos, until you read her caption of "a home we will miss." The home was not her's but was in her neighborhood. It was a place where her daughter played and learned to ride her bike. It was bulldozed down as had been the houses on either side of it. I still did not catch on until I read a few of the post below the photos talking about how some of the neighbors were sad to see it go and how they did not know what would replace it. Sound like some property that was swept up in residential gone commercial or maybe an owner who was foreclosed on? Nope the house belonged to Elin Nordegren, also known as Tiger Woods ex-wife. Now you are thinking...what a waste of 12 million dollars!


I read a link to Yahoo about the home that someone posted so we could all learn about the house. The news story only told of when she bought it, well I knew that from my friends post and it told it had been bulldozed down. What I really enjoyed reading were the comments posted below. Nobody understood how she could do something so wasteful. Some thought she should have given it to St. Jude to auction off. Others thought she could have turned it into a home for the homeless. Ideas abound with what she should have done with her home. Even I sat there and wondered if it had been stripped and recycled. The copper wiring alone was worth a fortune. If you too are sitting here fuming about the waste of a home, stop it.

Everything is relative. It is easy for us to look at a person who bulldozed down a multimillion dollar home and call her crazy. It is easy to say what we would do with the same amount of cash. It is so easy to look at the wealth of others and just know if we had what they have, we would have it made. Truth is, someone is looking at you too.
In the last year I have heard more than once, "If we had your income, we wouldn't have a worry." Trust me, we are not rolling in dough. In fact, we are lower, lower middle class people. Yet for friends who had suffered extreme cut backs and job loss, our little life style has looked impressive. Did you ever think that no matter how low your income may be, someone has less than you? Did you know that often these people look at what you have, and do with what you have, and horror of horror's judge what they would do if they had your life.

Not all cases are the ones watching you thinking if I had what you have. Sometimes they are in a position to help you with a better work position or other life style advancement. They are watching how you handle what you have already. Case in point a life lesson from the last Sam Walton.

The name Walton today makes people think of the world wide mega retail store Walmart. Sam Walton was the founder. My husband was at one time a Walmart store manager. Yes, a long, long time ago when Walmart had less than 400 stores and Mr. Sam was a lowly newly minted millionaire. Back then stores had end of the year meetings. Management met in a resort, but things like catered dinners and endless streaming food buffets did not exist. Rather you got up, went over to McDonalds or another fast food place, and got your breakfast.

My husband and about 10 other men were in McDonalds ordering breakfast. Mr. Sam was right in the middle. He got up to the counter and ordered simply an egg mcmuffin and glass of water. One of the other managers who had just ordered a large breakfast platter and coffee ask him, "Is that all you want to eat?" Mr. Sam looked at the man, looked at the high price food he bought and said, "This is all I need, it's filling and affordable. If you can't watch how you spend your money, how can I trust you with my money?" What a big lesson, Mr.Sam knew how you respected what you already have, will effect how well you respect the things you gain. In this case Mr. Sam was trusting his money to others to manage. Judging from the way Walmart took off, I say he had a very good eye and carefully judged people on how they managed what was given to them.

Next time you are tempted to judge what you would do if you had the riches of another, stop, and think what you need to do with the riches you all ready have. As for Elin Nordegren, that house she bulldozed down, was so infected with termites she was advised to cut her losses and just rebuild rather than try to repair. And now you know, even millionaires make bad deals and have bad days.....