Two buttons, at the beginning of life,
to select from:
One, if pressed, makes you (for the rest of your life) an
extremely rich person (monetarily) with not much
wisdom and compassion.
The other, if pressed, makes you
a not so rich person with
much wisdom and compassion.
Which would you press?
Which would you be?
You can’t press both;
you can never press both.
Button Mushrooms with Dew … Photo by Thomas Peace c. 2019
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 
I eat those “buttons.”
🙂 Great, Michael! Just be sure that — if picking wild ones — not to eat the wrong kind!
I expect we’ll be seeing lots of ‘shrooms this year.
Yes, Eilene! 🙂 We already have a lot sprouting around the yard! They love wetness! 🙂
I”ll bet most people reading this post would choose option no. 2 – that is me and money will never buy everything, including happiness and the richest people in the world have still died of illnesses beyond their control proving that money does not buy everything. Hope Marla has had her surgery and is on the road to recovery.
Most people would pick no. 2 but would end up being sucked into largely going for no. 1.
Thanks re thinking about Marla! She is back from the hospital and is doing well… and i have tons of things to do for her (which is just fine as far as i’m concerned). I help her with her enteral feedings and a lot of medical-oriented things. She is calling me “Nurse Matilda”! 🙂
Well, I will never be a millionaire and after I was first put on shorter hours due to the recession in early 2009, then my mom had some horrible dizzy issues (which I still believe was a TIA, although doctors said she just was not hydrated enough and got dizzy … but the dizziness persisted for 9 months until her death), I went to zero hours, then part-time when I was hired back in 2011. I work six hours a day and work from home. I could have gone back into the work force making a better wage and back to the rat race, but I chose to just stay home and work from home, no more commute, no more dealing with frustrations of working on site. So I do “get” it. I made that decision and it does cut into my savings, but I’ve not touched any long-term investments and believe (and hope) it was not an unwise decision. I’d have never started walking or enjoyed nature as I do these days and it has made a vast improvement in my life. Glad to hear Marla is home from surgery as well- I hope this is the final surgery for her and she has a speedy recovery. On this date in 1990, my mom had a hip revision (they removed a hip prosthesis that came loose in the stem, not the usual ball-and-joint issues that sometimes occur).
It was a lengthy operation using bone from the bone bank and they sent her home far too early. I took a three-week leave of absence to take care of her. I admire you Tom, er Nurse Matilda..
So sorry to hear about your mom, Linda. It probably was TIA. A lot of people are misdiagnosed by doctors and suffer the consequences. Marla, when she was very young, was misdiagnosed by a lot of doctors. Most of them thought that she was “faking” her problems and others of them came up with dead-end theories. Finally, one of them got it right and figured out that she had Wilson’s disease.
Good for you for not merely being immersed in the mindless rat-race system and for not merely chasing after $ like so many foolishly do. Too many people have $ in their eyes and brains and nothing in their hearts.
Button Two, please! 😉
Like what, i mentioned to Linda, Sabine, most people would choose no.2 but would end up largely being pulled to going for no.1.
The winds are increasing here and rain is (again) on the way!
Stay safe and dry, Tom! I hope Marla is recovering!
P.S. Great mushroom photograph! 😊
Thank you much, Sabine! Marla is home and is recovering well so far. She is tough and has gone through suffering hell too many times. Thank you for thinking of her! 🙂
Such a fun guy! I’d eat the latter, wealth no.
Good for you, Paul! 🙂 Many out there say that they’d choose no.2 but (because of miseducation and social conditioning) end up being more about no.1.
Very true in my circles, and easily justified. But few of them are contented.
monkey prefer button 2 + the red pill: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=red%20pill
🙂 I love to explore mysterious rabbit holes!
Wow look at eggs!!! So beautiful and amazing form! 🙂
Thank you, Marcela! 🙂
Without hesitation, I would choose button 1.
Then I would be filthy rich and have every comfort, and without wisdom or compassion I wouldn’t know the difference, or be cursed with a brain that knows beauty and suffering.
Instead of feeling guilty that I can’t “save them all”, I would practice social philanthropy.
End result is: many more people would benefit from my wealthy philanthropy, therefore it would be selfish for me to choose a modest life of enlightenment (button 2).
Paz
I like to think I pressed button 2.
Wisdom and compassion, every time!