I went into the bank one day
I needed one small loan
Said advertising on TV
It could be done by phone
This lady wanted more info
Than Carter’s Little Pills
My life was signed away at last
I went to pay the bills
My mind reviewed the whole event
She’d started with my birth
Her questions had but one intent
To see how much I’m worth
How much I owned, how much I owed
She checked my credit twice
She checked the taxes three years old
Each penny was precise
Oh yes she knew her money’s safe
I would repay it back
And yet she knew naught of my worth
She’d gotten off the track
Real worth to her was miniscule
I only was a file
My life to her was numbers please
A rating to compile
(continued)
She represented most of life
It almost seemed a shame
Your rank, your job, your house, your car
It’s one big numbers game
The life inside our very soul
It matters not it seems
We can’t record this on a scale
So it won’t fit our schemes
You’d think that they would want to know
My interest in the loan
The only interest in their mind
A table I was shown
In school we learned the A, B, C’s
Report cards with no E’s
Your job was really what you earned
In court guilt cured with fees
And those who gave the church the most
Sat in the front row pews
In politics it’s campaign funds
In spite of what their views
No wonder that our math was stressed
The numbers never lied
Your worth was measured on that scale
The Bigger Number Guide
(continued)
Back home my father taught me well
He made damn sure I heard
There’s honesty, integrity
Your handshake was your word
And nature made the same review
It measured from within
It’s worth began from what it shared
Not lumber-feet therein
So what we’re worth can mean two things
We say they both do count
But when you try to get a loan
Your worth is an amount
They really know how much your worth
The numbers they can’t change
And IF those numbers come out right
A loan they can arrange
To those who have the least self worth
This game the biggest bet
If they could guard the Pearly Gates
No one would be there yet
I sure am glad St. Peter knows
Those things which have no worth
Those things we seem to value most
Must all be left on earth
COPYRIGHT – DR. JON C. FULFS – JULY 1992