Ok ya’ll this is a different blog post. This is me being crazy impressed by something I saw on facebook today.
Now, I’m not gonna lie, I don’t typically scroll through my feed, but I was sitting on the floor in our uber cramped little Cruisemaster bathroom with Rowdy because he’s the sickest I’ve ever seen him, aside from RSV last year.
He has strep and Kenny has strep and the two of them are vomiting … I used to get strep ALL the time as a kid and never ever once vomited. My throat would feel like a bed of nails and I’d lie about it for as long as I could stand it because of that throat culture thing. OMGsh, no joke, I had to be held down by a doctor and two nurses, I hated that throat culture.
Fast forward 20 years and I can’t for the life of me understand why they still have that barbaric test. I mean with all the advances in medicine, please for the love of God why is there still a test that requires the nurse to rub the back of your throat with a long Qtip? Gah, it’s akin to torture.
But Rowdy and Kenny ecaped that ordeal because of the online Dr, Amwell.
At any rate, I was sitting on the floor with Rowdy on my lap because he thought he was going to throw up. He was nodding in and out and I couldn’t sleep, obviously, so I was playing Spider on my phone and then checked Snap Chat and Pinterest, which I have a hankering for lately because we are going to gut the heck outta our Georgie Boy this winter.
After Pinterest, I hit up Facebook, which I never ever do, and is why I never comment on your awesome posts … I just don’t see them. I post and run, I have kids, 12 of them, I have a husband I have fun to have, I have zero time for Facebook scrolling. I mean, I only just discovered the Other folder in messages because I only just discovered messages!
About two posts down was the post that stopped me in my tracks. Read if for youself and then process it honestly for about 2 seconds, which is about the amount of time we ever give ourselves to process something.
“If each of my blog subscribers would loan us $500, we could make a cash purchase right now on a home in Atlanta. Then we could pay back one creditor each month over the next 11 years, holding a draw to see who is the lucky loaner. That sounds kind of exciting, eh? Or here’s another option: If each of my Facebook friends would loan only $100, we’d be even further ahead. And we could pay back FIVE people each month!
Hey, they told me to think outside the box…”
Little back story, the poster is trying to buy a house for his family.
I’ll tell you my initial reaction was not flattering (to me) at all. I thought, who the hell is he? Why does he think he’s so special that he can ask for help like that? Like everyone else doesn’t have their own bills to pay …
And I turned off my phone in frustration, thinking that was why I never scrolled, all these self-serving people who only cared about themselves.
But then it dawned on me something I always tell my kids. When they ask me if they can ask someone else for something, i always say, “You can ask anyone anything you want. The worst they can do is say no. And if you don’t ask, you definitely won’t get …”
That’s some sage advice, right? The answer will always be no if you don’t ask.
Also asking gives the other person the ability to do something extraordinary. I mean this guy is asking people to trust him to pay back $250 or $500 randomly in the next 12 years.
And maybe, just maybe I was the one with the vanity problem, not him. I mean here he was willing to ask for help, to put himself out there. He had NO idea how people would respond, I was pretty certain he’d be the butt of some cruelty. But when I revisited his page to offer him moral support as well as financial, I was blown the heck away.
About half the world responded with offers to help and compounded interest and something like …
“I like it… got my mind whirling on how you would track everything. (wink emoticon) It’s probably not likely that 100% of your FB friends will take you up on the offer, so how about this:
Crowdsource the loan on FB in increments of $250. Then you only need 310 people to join in to reach your goal. Make it more attractive by promising to repay $275 for each segment of the loan, and you will pay back 2 segments per month by random drawing. 10% might sound like a lot, but it’s actually very little with this structure. With a regular 30 year mortgage, most people pay 100% interest over the life of the loan, with an APR in the 5% range.
So if one person decides to loan you $2500, they will be paid back in random segments of $250 + $25 interest, like everyone else. The money will return sometime in the next 11 years.”
Wow, this person surrounded themselves with the right kind of people, no? I remember a time when we were young and getting started, we asked to borrow a relatives old van, we had 3 kids in car seats in a Honda Accord, I was driving around on the floor because I didn’t fit between the two in the back — Shut Up! 🙂 The answer was no. The van, incidentally, dry rotten in the driveway.
It is becoming more and more apparent that the people you surround yourself with is one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make. This guy understood that from the beginning.
I mean if EVERYONE just helped everyone else, this world would be beautiful, I’m telling you so so SO beautiful and I want a beautiful world for my kids!! I have a renewed faith in humanity! Get on the bandwagon ya’ll!! Rejoice!
Give before you die, ya’ll. Blown the heck away … SERIOUSLY!