Secure Surety©

Secure Surety©

A Limerick A Day to Keep You On Your Way©

There once was an Act of Security.

Fueled by the hearts of social purity.

Care for the old,

Turned lie for gold.

Stolen by the government’s surety.

HAPPY AUGUST BIRTHDAY TO ME!

This month I celebrate another milestone in the numerical age of society’s timelines.  This number had the power to shift whole mindsets. The social thought behind it was for the aging population as well as the future hope of the young generation. The *surety of government proves evil when greed mismanages the money “freely” given it.  My hope is not in the government of men but in the Kingdom Government of GOD.  This Kingdom neither has lack nor greed.  There is always more than enough for all your needs, not your wants.  Living now this many years God has had to teach me many times to ask for what I need, not want.  And many times He has been so good to me He supplied my wants too because I trusted Him for my needs.  God is awesome like that. Jesus said these words to remind us –   Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

August 14, 1935, the date the Social Security Act was signed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  Tax collection began in January 1937.  That same month, lump-sum payments were made until 1940. From that point forward a regular monthly payment would be distributed. Before the law was signed FDR’s wife Eleanor wrote a passionate speech in 1934 about her belief in the need for social security for the entire nation.  A quote from her speech, “We can hardly be happy knowing that throughout this country so many fine citizens who have done all that they could for their young people must end their days divided–for they usually are divided in the poorhouse. Old people love their own things even more than young people do. It means so much to sit in the same old chair you sat in for a great many years, to see the same picture that you always looked at!”

I completely resonated with that statement being a single parent, now grandparent, as my retirement age was extended 20 more months because the surety of the government felt it necessary. In contrast, visiting one of my sisters also named Eleanor, a single parent also with grandchildren, now spending her days in a nursing home (poorhouse). Besides her clothes, which often never make it back from the facility’s laundry room, despite the sign that says, “Family will do laundry”, she has a single picture of our parents sitting on a night table that is not hers, sleeps in a bed that is not hers, and stares out a window into a courtyard at people she doesn’t know. Eleanor Roosevelt understood. She commented on her state of New York having 70 the age before one could receive payouts.  She saw the truth that some people at 70 were still well able to work and others by 65 were not, as in the case of my sister.  That led me to a little side search that revealed something our 21^st century may not think of. The industrialization of America had sucked the life out of workers much earlier than the years when almost every family had a farm and family units stayed close in their communities allowing for better care of their elderly.  Much research had been done on the issues of how to care for the aged before Eleanor’s speech and the subsequent signing by FDR of the 1935 Social Security Act. The age of 65 was calculated as the least cumbersome of taxation for all to sustain the ability to collect social security when the time came. Of further interest was how the government collects the social security tax. We think of social security as a benefit because that is how the government labeled it.  In reality, it is our hard-earned money taken by the government who in turn, invests it, makes interest on it, and then gives it back to the taxpayers with less interest BUT does possibly cause people to save for retirement that might not. I wonder if FDR anticipated this….

In 1983 the Federal Government raised the age of full retirement to 67 for those born in 1960 and later. They also lowered the monthly payout amount. The result hurt the economy, decreasing the timeline for Social Security Longevity. It had the opposite effect intended. This is where I realize again how our mismanaged taxes become the “surety” of the government when I ponder the following definitions for the word.

1.  

Surety:  noun:   a guarantee that an obligation will be met

            noun:  a prisoner who is held by one party to insure that another party will meet specified terms

 noun:  property that your creditor can claim in case you default on your obligation

So, as I celebrate my societal milestone birthday, I will continue to look forward to a social security check providing it will still be available when that time comes.  If I look at this check as a need I must have to survive I will surely be in lack. I will be like a prisoner of the government that we know continues to change its terms.  My surety is in the God of the Kingdom of God who is the guarantor that never changes His terms.

Pray this prayer with me.

Dear Jesus,

Thank You for the surety of YOU.  You clearly established Your Word for the world.  Forgive us for living our own kingdom laws which clearly cause lack and greed. We repent and ask You for wisdom and guidance as we seek Your Kingdom first… Then all these things will be added. In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

John 3:3

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,  Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

 

Written by Paula Ann Kochanek

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