When Things Are More Important Than People

When we’re young, the things that we want are the most important to us. We think about how to get those things, but they don’t come to us automatically. We learn that if we beg, threaten, yell or scream enough, there are people who will give us what we want. We only care what people can give us.

We think, “Wow! I want a pet. How much is a pet? Six million penya! I don’t have any penya! Who can give me a pet?”  Then we run around asking people to give us a pet, or six million penya. “Give me penya, please! Please! Please! Please! I’ll stop asking when you say yes. Please! Please! Please give me six million penya now! If you don’t I’ll follow you around and bug you. I’ll be your best friend. Please! Please! Please!”

Because we only care what people can give us, we use words that describe how easy it is to get things from them. If they give us what we want, we call them nice. If they don’t, we call them mean. If they do not have self-respect and always give us things for free we say they’re a friend.

When people grow up, some people never change. Even as adults they look at people only to get things from them. They never learn to be happy. They hang with people who are weak and unhappy inside. They complain about what they don’t have, and think others should give them more.

Because the things we want are most important to us, we value things and use people to get those things. People don’t like to be used. They don’t want to be around us. When they block our messages, run away, or stop playing, we are lonely and angry, but do not understand why.

A Party Working Together

When People Are More Important Than Things

When we grow up and become more mature, we start to see that other people have feelings like we do. People don’t like to be used like a vending machine. We start to understand that our happiest times are with other people. When we’re polite and kind with each other, we can have true friends that come to us in good times and bad times.

We  guardian angels value people more than things. Things break, but true friends can last forever. True friends care about us and help us become better. They can work with us so we both get what we want.

But… we still want that pet, and it’s still six million penya. When people are more important, we can work with our friends to find things, trade things, sell things, and eventually… when we have the pet that we bought, we don’t just have a pet. We have a pet and better things. We have our fond memories of playing with our friends, working with our friends, crying with our friends, and looking forward to the next time we see each other.

The pet will not last forever, but our friends can.

Value people. Use things to bless their lives.