Like 2.7 million others, I like George Takei on Facebook. He’s absolutely hilarious, yet also thoughtful and kindhearted. So yes, you could say that I ♥ him. So when he posted the above photo this morning, I got a warm fuzzy feeling in my heart.
Perhaps a little background information is in order. My father is an English professor, and one of his areas of expertise is Science Fiction. (Specifically Philip K.Dick and Ursula LeGuin.) So Star Trek and I go waaaay back. My sister and I even produced an audio play in 1977 riffing off The Trouble With Tribbles, featuring the Starship Enterprise toilets malfunctioning at a time when they’re being attacked by a Romulan Warbird. And instead of transporting Tribbles to the enemy ship, instead they transport their bodily waste.
It was hilarious!
The Vulcan greeting of “Live long and prosper” got me thinking this morning. What does it mean to prosper? Is prosperity necessarily synonymous with monetary wealth? Can a person be prosperous without piles of cash?
I say yes.
To me, prosperity equates success in lifelong endeavors, even when it that success has nothing to do with money. Even when goals are not actually achieved. Because the process of trying and failing includes life lessons that help to give a better chance of success with the next project.
I do not have a goal to become rich. However, I do have a goal to grow my blog and widen my readership. Sometimes my methods garner next to nothing, (Interviews where the websites omit a link back to the blog) and sometimes the tiniest effort pans out big time. (My Tea Towel Salad Dressing recipe that ran in the Simple Living Network newsletter!)
Should an effort be categorized as a failure just because there was no immediate benefit? I say no. Answering interviewers’ questions helps to coalesce my message, and often sparks new ideas. So yes, there is value to these efforts. They’re helping me to prosper, irregardless of my bank account balance.
So I am prospering, even though I’m far from wealthy. (And hopefully I will live long.)
Thank you, Sulu.
Click HERE to read my Everything I need to learn in life, I learned from Star Trek essay. It’s an oldie but a goodie.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
And this intriguing salad dressing is……..
Thanks,
Justine
paintmeapoem.com
I linked to it above. 🙂
Katy
I think your trying to pull a Vulcan Mind Meld on us Katy 🙂 Seriously though, I see prosperity as success attained because of your involvement and no; it doesn’t have to be monetary success…now take your hands off my face and slowly back away LOL
Love,love, love it! My hubby is a Star Trek fan from way back…love your tribbles parady:)! I think your idea of prosperity is right on the mark. I feel we (my family) prospers when we are growing, using what we have been blessed with and sharing with others and having “enough” to do that with. You are sure helpful with all that! Live long and prosper! (I will never, ever be able to do the hand sign so you will just have to use your imagination.)
And “Live long and prosper” back ‘atcha!
Katy
Hi Katy,
It’s nice to hear of another woman Trekkie! I had lots of male friends in high school, so kind of fell into loving Star Trek. I love the values in it as well, things I want my kids to know as well. I love the Tribbles parody! 🙂
We recently had that conversation, at our house. Our income has dropped almost by 2/3’s,my hubby is in construction and I can’t find anything but part-time work.
I had mentioned that I don’t feel poor, per say. So I asked him when he looked at me funny, Do you think we’re poor? He said, well yes.
But we are looking at it in two ways.
He is looking at our annual income, compared to 10 years ago. Plus the silly comment by Romney about 250 thousand a year being middle class!!!!
I am looking at the fact, that our bills are paid every month on time. We have no debt, other than a mortage, and even that is small. And if we need things, we save for them .
So yes, we will live long and prosper, just not how others may do it
$250,000 is thought of as “middle-class?!”
I somehow missed that. I guess my family is abject poverty then. 😉
Katy
Sounds prosperous to me!
Katy
Thanks, Katy.
Looks delicious!
I sometimes add slices of raw broccoli stem (peeled, of course) to salad. Lovely crunch, nobody has ever guessed what it is!
Happy New Year!
Justine
I was a huge Star Trek fan growing up, and I loved the Trouble with Tribbles. One of my problems with the Next Generation was them using original scripts, like the tribbles. As for prosperity, I view it differently. For example, I prosper due to my relationships with family and friends. Knowing the love we share makes my life much fuller than any number in a bank account ever could.
This is a timely post as I was thinking of writing to you to ask (if you don’t mind sharing) what your long term financials goals are as a result of your frugal lifestyle and the Compact. For instance, do you try to live on one salary so you can retire early or so hubby can retire early? It may be a dumb question as I know frugal living can and does have payoffs that have nothing to do with money…conservation of the earths resources, simpler lifestyle, etc. I would enjoy a post where your readers share their reasons for choosing to live a more frugal lifestyle. Just a thought! 🙂
My long term financial goals are to get the kids through college and then reassess. I like my job and have no interest in early retirement. Our mortgage will be paid off by the time we’re 60.
Katy
My carpool partner hearts George T., too!. And I remember that when we had coffee at the Bipartisan Cafe a few years ago, your tea towel salad dressing recipe was already a hit.
I wanted to let you and your community know about a drawing/giveaway I’m doing of an excellent book: “Wild: From Lost To Found On The Pacific Crest Trail”. The author — yet another blond Portland woman of our generation — shares some of our core values. See my site for details.
Fellow Trekkie here… When I was a kid my brother and I would watch the Star Trek re-runs every day after school… with a stopwatch. The game was to see how many seconds it would take before one of us could shout out the name of the episode – he generally won. I think “A Piece of the Action” is still my favorite. It’s the one with the gangsters and Kirk making up the game of “Fizbin.”
I totally love your attitude about things that don’t seem to work out right away. I think that’s true with all sorts of “frugal living adventures.” I often take what I think will be the most frugal path through some sort of repair or household expense, only to discover mid-way through that I could have solved the problem for much less money, or time or hassle if only I’d known _____ (fill in blank with crucial missing piece of data du jour.)
But if you look on each of those things as a learning experience instead of a failure, then the next time you’re up against something similar you’ll have a head start! Maybe you’ll have a tool that you didn’t have before, or maybe you’ll understand how to do something, or how xyz kind of device works. As long as you stay pointed in the right direction, there are no failures, only more experiences to draw upon.
My family of two adults and two little dogs lives on one income. Mortgage is paid off, both cars are paid off. Major expense is out-of-pocket medical expenses. So I guess we are fine financially for the time being.
I have learned that wealth and poverty have nothing whatsoever to do with $, but everything to do with your state of mind/attitude. Some folks will never get that and think that we of this mind set are “weird”. That’s when we just smile and walk on, knowing that we are truly prospering.
yup, I agree. I went to the thrift store yesterday. 50 %off coupon in hand. I got a nearly new childrens place winter shirt for granddaughter, Brand new Old Navy shirt for hubby, bright green sweater for me, and a new handbag by nine west for me, and I was smiling all day. That and I made 3 zucchini breads for the freezer and grated 8 more bags of it to put away.
All in all a great day!!
Money spent: $13.00
I love thrift store coupons! And yes, I would marry them.
Katy
I read a book recently, “Made by Hand, my year of finding meaning in a throwaway world” by Mark Frauenfelder. A good read definitely but I came away with one powerful message, when you DO things, you will make mistakes. That is normal and part of the learning process. He spends some real time discussing this concept and suddenly one feels so much better about errors. This is normal! I”m supposed to mess up. I’m learning! Each time we DO something, we learn more. I thought of all the kitchen disasters I’ve had and how confident I am in the kitchen now. That took years but it was fun and now I”m a good cook and can deal with free food, leftovers, and very low budgets with a large quantity of success.
Also remembering that “they aren’t all home runs” is a good thought. I might make a frugal meal that is well “ok”. Not all are home runs…. We can eat it and NOT make it again. Big deal. Some are Home runs though and I’d never have come across that one if I hadn’t been trying things out.
I feel prosperous when I have
– time and
– a relaxed heart and
therefore am able to be creative.
when we think of winning the lottery, isn’t that what we really want? TIME and a relaxed approach to everthing? Relaxed because we aren’t worried?
We can still have loads of money and be worried all the time.
It is what goes on in between our ears that brings us that sense of prosperousness (as many previous posters have already said!)
Great post Katy.
Nearly (I was a college freshman when it began) a lifelong Star Trek fan, with my last birthday I think I qualify as having “lived long,” if not yet long enough. We’re certainly not wealthy, but we have no debt, independent children, good friends, interesting hobbies, much-loved pets, and enough of everything else to be happy. I think we’ve prospered.
May you and yours live long and prosper as well.
Is sweet rice vinegar the same as the rice wine vinegar used for sushi or what??