This A Texas Voice column was first released for publication on May 9, 2007. Note that was well before people starting fretting over a failing housing market. Prophetic? No. Observant? Maybe.
(c) 2007 by Steve Martaindale
--- I met a man the other day, a former Texan who now lives in Florida, and he was talking about visiting someone in a Houston suburb: “I couldn’t believe how huge the houses are. I mean, what do those people do to make that kind of money?”
That’s an old song with us. Leah has joked for years that she wanted to knock on a few doors and ask that very question of the occupants of incredibly large houses. I would also like to know, “Why do you need a home so big?”
While we have made comments like those for years, the situation really hit me one day last week. I drove a little bit out of the way on a trip in order to breeze through a small town I used to know fairly well. It was fun recalling what used to be where but especially seeing places and small businesses that had not changed.
However, on my way out of town, through an area that back then was hardly developed, I was bowled over by the huge houses. HUGE houses. Right here in River City.
It’s different here, don’t you see? I used to know people who lived in this neck of the woods. Some of them lived in what we considered nice homes. You know, three bedrooms, two baths, probably 1,500 square feet. Brick homes. Nice homes. The most well-to-do people in town did not live in anything approaching these monstrosities.
Now, that’s unfair. “Monstrosities” implies there is something wrong – indeed, evil – about living in a 3,000-square-foot home. If they can afford it and that’s how they want to spend their money, it’s the American way. Go for it. Besides, they are beautiful to look at. There is nothing wrong with it, but ... still ... it just doesn’t feel right.
Why? It’s not because some people live in lush surroundings while others barely exist. Indeed, our little house on four acres with a garden and a pond seems excessive to many, I’m sure. Maybe because I’m afraid that so many of those palaces are leading into financial ruin people who could just barely qualify for the loan. And such accumulating debt is damaging to the country, I think.
Don’t confuse this with investigative reporting. It’s just the meandering thoughts of a crotchety guy driving around alone. However, I know that moneylenders have always said Leah and I could spend much more on a house than we felt like we could. Looking back, taking on such a larger loan could have had catastrophic results for us. How many people have secured a dream home that turned into a bankruptcy nightmare?
SPEAKING OF BIG
Then something else happened during this drive. I started noticing churches.
It began in a little town with which I’m only vaguely familiar. I heard from its newspaper editor a couple of years ago about what a tough time the area was having. We drove through the downtown back then and it was depressing; you could see hope crumbling into the streets.
However, in this town struggling to get by, there was a very nice, new, large church. I’m judging by the exterior only, but its extremely high roofline gave the appearance of a massive sanctuary and I could imagine only that it was as nice inside as out. Time and again, town after town, my attention was drawn to nice, large churches among homes that were modest, at best.
Such is a different situation. Certainly, these churches were not built with borrowed money ... I hope. On the other hand, churches do carry a greater responsibility concerning the plights of other people. A late, beloved minister talked about a big-city church he previously served as pastor. After the members built a new sanctuary, they filled it with folding chairs until they could afford pews. He said they never bought the pews because they always found it more important to put the money to work helping people.
Random thoughts. Time to park the car and quit judging books by their covers.
(c) 2007 by Steve Martaindale
No comments:
Post a Comment