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Of Gift Cards and Gratitude


Of Gift Cards: Today I went shopping at the nearby Raleys (“Why Pay Less?”) Supermarket for my supplies. [Note: Women “shop,” men “resupply.”]. At the cashier, after running up the ever-increasing total I took out a gift card that had come to my mail drop a few weeks back. Using that my weekly total for my resupply came to $5.33, a sum that has not been seen on Earth (especially in Raleys) since Eisenhower was President. Suffice it to say that my joy was resplendent, especially now that the dollar has become the new dime. My gratitude for this gift cannot be overstated. My ever present putzitude however has made me lose the name and address of my gracious Gift Card giver. At any rate, he knows who he is so let this note stand in for my thanks.

The out-of-pocket costs of said resupply improved my money mood to such an extent that I decided to check in on my seldom visited PayPal account; an account that I have been promoting for the last week or so with those chunky PayPal Donation buttons I’ve been putting into every post. . . if I remember to do so. I don’t often look at the PayPal account page since when I do it most often looks like this:

Not an inspiring summary. Indeed the most consistent emotion I experience when looking at PayPal is a lack of enthusiasm for keeping a PayPal account. If I want to be depressed about money I can just bring up The Debt Clock and take a hit of the hard stuff.

Upon examining the PayPal page this morning, however, I was surprised to see the number of people who had gone to the page and their generosity. I was embarrassed I had not thanked them promptly and I will endeavor to do so today.

For all such tender mercies from my readers over the years (and there have been many), I am grateful and I am thankful. Indeed, without the help of family, old friends, and new and old readers, I know my steps over the last few years would have faltered. Alas, one of my many flaws is that I do not always express my gratitude with alacrity or even dependability. As a result, thanking people can sometimes get lost in the general unruliness of my life. I have resolved to do better; to shake off the “pastoral torpor” that too often envelops me. I will be changing some things at American Digest so that I can stay more up-to-date with my gratitude; with all my gratitude; to family, to friends, and to you Dear Reader.

Of Gratitude: Beyond donations, I am most grateful for all those that stop by to read my little letter to the world and then, mirabile dictu, come back and grace me with their thoughts as well. At the end of the day, I am most grateful that you read and pass on and return. Without readers, a writer is just locked into a box canyon filled with his solitary echoes. So whoever you are, wherever you are, and whenever you are thank you.

And now… on with the show good health to you.

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Skippy the Clown July 17, 2022, 6:48 PM

    Gift cards are a construct of the white male patriarchy and will be redistributed to the replacements.
    All clowning aside, the church pantry gave us a $50 gift card at the start of engine rebuild that is going on three months due to supply chain and it was right on time.
    Stocking up from the pantry has served us well regarding cleaning items, hygiene gear and canned goods.
    There used to be grocery bags of items but it is not very much now with more people using it.

  • robert kendall July 18, 2022, 9:39 AM

    I quit pay pal when some guy in AUS bought a car with my acct. fortunately, being an Aussie, he realized that we’d both been scammed and cancelled his purchase. that was maybe 12-15 years ago

  • My two cents July 18, 2022, 2:40 PM

    A quote dated 7/29/21 (about a year ago):

    “This month, we also learned that PayPal has tapped the ADL to lay out criteria that will allow that payment-services giant to essentially shut down any group it labels “extremist.” ”

    https://nypost.com/2021/07/29/forget-using-paypal-if-your-views-run-afoul-of-this-left-wing-group/

  • Gordon Scott July 18, 2022, 5:17 PM

    I have donated to Gerard in the past via PayPal, and have suffered no Australian consequences, nor condemnation from yet another non-profit taken over by Marxist lunatics. Not that it couldn’t happen tomorrow, but so far so good.

    I keep track of auctions here in Mesa, and there’s a lot of them what with old farts (older than me) either dying or getting too creaky to live on their own. One of the things I like to buy is the contents of closets and laundry shelves. Often I can get a lot of pricey chemicals for $5. There’s never toilet paper, or paper towels, though. Somehow they vanish before the auction starts.

    I was at one Saturday night. I went seeking a larger freezer. It was there but it went for $400 and my limit was $75. There was also a whole lot of high-end Christmas stuff like those little village miniature buildings, and antique-looking ornaments. There were some serious gals buying that stuff. I asked one if she was gonna decorate, and she said no. She intended to sell it all on eBay.