The Working World

As I rush the group through our walk this morning Austin asks why the hurry?  I tell Austin that I have to get to work.  The holidays are over and it is time to get working again.  Well Austin says, today is so beautiful it is not a day to talk of work.  This is a day to take a long leisurely run not a quick walk.  Austin goes on to say it is a day to lift your face to the sun and smell the breeze not stare at the ground and mumble about noses to the grindstone.  Ramping up his rant even more, he says it is a day to feel the wind in your fur not be corralled inside the house.  Well Austin that is all good and fine for you to say but someone's gotta earn the money around here, I tell him. What money?  What are you talking about Austin asks me.  Very authoritatively I tell Austin about the world economy.  You see Austin, everything costs money.  And money is...? Austin asks.  Carrying on in a very knowledgeable fashion I tell Austin that money is printed on pieces of paper and they all have different values represented by the numbers on the paper.  The money drives the world economy.  We need this money Austin to purchase items and we can only earn this money by working.  Continuing my dissertation I tell Austin that everyone has a job and we are paid for this job with money.  We then spend our money on items that we need or want and that is what makes the economy go round.  We buy things which in turn creates more jobs for people to make more things for us to buy and they get paid for making those things and then they get money and on and on it goes.  What sorts of things do you buy? asks Austin.  Well, we need clothes.  You can't go to work without clothes I tell Austin.  You need money to buy a car so you can drive to work.  And it is not all about work either.  We buy things to help us relax like TV, skis, games so we can enjoy our time off work and then we are rested and rejuvenated when we return to work.  And this makes us contributors to the world economy.  Ohhh I get it says Austin.  So you guys put numbers on pieces of paper.  And then you work to get these little pieces of paper with their numbers so that you can buy stuff that will help you work more.  Harumph says Daisy, and they say beagles are dumb.