No room at the Inn

The one good thing about full time Rving is I don’t have any room for a lot of “stuff.” So anything I see on the local Facebook garage sale page, craigslist or at a retail outlet gets the same answer from me, “no room at the inn” – saving me both clutter and money.

Of course, the term “no room” reminds of the Christmas story, which we’ve somehow lost in the mad rush to get a bigger TV and waffle irons to be returned the next day standing in lines with other disappointed gift getters.

Christmas season also bring out the bell ringers for the Salvation Army at every door. Have you thought about what would happen today if the Salvation Army wanted to form? No way would they be allowed to organize under that name as the government would be sure to label them a terrorist organization and the laws of the land prohibit the raising of an army within our borders.

But there they stood this past season ringing those bells and saying “Merry Christmas” to all who entered the hallowed halls of the local Wal-Mart. There again they are somehow violating the left leaning liberals feelings who hate that term. But when someone has an army behind them it’s hard to force a new way upon them.

I try and put some money in the pot when I pass by thereby assuaging my guilt for the year but find a lack of cash on hand to be a real hardship to that endeavor. Watching people come and go I realized that the cashless society we have created has caused a drop in donations to these types of organizations.

I never seem to have any cash with me these days and so when I see a homeless person or someone else in need I often have to seek out some cash to give to them. Now you may say Ol' Dutch is just being taken advantage of but somewhere in this old mountain man's soul is a soft spot. The idiot who said “there but for the grace of God go I” is to blame as that always comes to mind when I see those in need.

This cashless situation has also been taken to the extreme and you find charge plates in a lot of places you never did before. Like at church. Not to miss out on an opportunity to collect for the Lord, many churches have installed credit card machines for the members to use for donations.

Now this goes against pretty much all biblical teachings about debt but none of the people collecting that way seem to let that get in the way of a good offering. And it does eliminate that old “I left my wallet at home” ploy.

No matter where you go we see the move to debit and credit cards and even at a $10 a day table at a flea market the retailers will be using their cell phones to collect money from shoppers. Who would of thunk it? I can’t remember the last time I saw someone use actual “money” for a purchase except for Trixie.

Now that woman has an affinity for cash like a Labrador retriever does for a good swim and can always be counted on to come up with some green in an emergency. I am not sure where she got that trait and how she kept that being a California girl but Ol' Dutch is sure glad she does.

Before I met Trixie, a lot of the women I took up a close parley with didn’t have any money and looked to me for sustenance. They also were looking for lodging in the permanent status and since Ol' Dutch was dating younger women, they usually came with a fair share of camp followers of various ages and dimensions.

It didn’t take this old Mountain Man long to realize like the inn keeper of old that having “no room at the inn” was probably not all that bad of a thing and I was able to escape a second round of servitude and support which would have eliminated what is known as LTD or “Living the Dream” for Ol' Dutch.

But you give Ol' Dutch a woman who has a pocket full of cash and loves the taste of venison and he will find some room even in his tiny inn.