A Matter of Perspective

I must be a cheapskate. . . or maybe it is something else . . .

I received an e-mail the other day telling me about the cost of tickets to go to a National Basketball Association (NBA) basketball game.

Don’t misunderstand...I wasn’t looking for tickets. The e-mail was unsolicited.

When I saw what some of the top teams in the NBA have as asking prices for their tickets, I nearly choked on my coffee. If you want to be anywhere in the area, you will pay a minimum of $146. That was for the “cheap” seats way up in the nosebleed section. The only way you could get any further from the court would be if you didn’t go to the game at all!

If you wanted to be somewhere in the middle, you could probably get closer for around $200.

The closer seats were about $400 to start.

Obviously, someone is buying these tickets as this particular Lakers game was nearly sold out. (I looked up the Lakers because it was the only team I could think of at the moment! Go Timberwolves!)

When I thought of the Timberwolves, that prompted me to look up their prices. The nosebleeds were actually kind of reasonable starting in the $30 range. But if you wanted to get close, you could pay as much as $1000 for the remaining seats.

I guess I am just a cheapskate as I cannot imagine paying even $30 for a cheap seat.

If I am going to pay money at all, I want a seat where I can at least see what the players are doing!

I often hear people asking, “What is wrong with the world?”

Hmmm....for starters, I would say placing such a high value on athletic performances. On any performance for that matter. I’m thinking of actors now.

We don’t have anyone to blame for these high prices except ourselves. If we stop paying for those high-priced tickets, if we stopped going to movies or watching TV—those industries would have no choice but to lower their prices.

Obviously, as my granddaughter likes to say, these are just small parts of what is wrong with the world.

Wars and rumors of wars, plagues, fighting, murders, incest, and the like are all just symptoms of the bigger problem—separation from God.

Most of us are searching for answers. The answer might be as close as your Bible. I know that is where I am now searching for the answers my heart desires.

Are high-priced tickets and separation from God related? Of course, they are. When we place more value on certain people or events than others—on an even playing field, so to speak—we are telling others that they have less value. When people don’t feel valued, things start to fall apart. Think about it. . . do you see it?

Let us start placing our friends, neighbors, strangers, and even our “enemies” ahead of ourselves and I know the world would be different.

I want to make this world a better place for my grandchildren. How about you? Can we all agree to do our small part to make the world a better place? Let’s build an ARK on Acts of Random Kindness so we can survive the flood of evil that threatens to overtake the world and ourselves.

I may be a cheapskate, but maybe I am just like everyone else, looking for an answer. It won’t be found in the expensive seats or the nosebleeds, though.