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July 2, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The hallmark of a person

Abe Novick: Up, up, and aliya

July 1, 2009

Rabbi Avi Shafran: The Road Taken

The Kosher Gourmet by Marialisa Calta: Get into the holiday spirit with these Star-Spangled desserts

June 30, 2009

Rabbi Binyomin Ginsberg: What makes a great parent?

Caroline B. Glick: Ideologue-in-Chief

June 29, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Beware of 'Caveat Emptor'

Steven Emerson: ACLU pushing for more money for Hamas

June 26, 2009

Rabbi Yoni Posnick: Learn the secret to a healthy marriage from a scriptural villain

Caroline B. Glick: Barack Obama vs. International Law

June 25, 2009

Rabbi Shimon Apisdorf: The Absurd Power of Truth

Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkle's strip: Everything's Relative

June 24, 2009

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Advancement of technology is a wake-up call for humanity

The Kosher Gourmet by Andrea Weigl: Summer on a stick: Making frozen treats can be easy, creative and fun

June 23, 2009

Martin M. Bodek: 'On Surnames': And so, We Begin

Caroline B. Glick: The Obama Effect

June 22, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Working for a corrupt firm

N. Richard Greenfield : Where are American Jews?

June 19, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Emotion v. intellect

Caroline B. Glick: Israel's rare opportunity

June 18, 2009

Jonathan Rosenblum: Sometimes it is more essential to define the nature of evil than good

Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkle's strip: Everything's Relative

June 17, 2009

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Language of Confusion

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Nothing pleases Dad more than a thick, juicy onion-smothered steak. Add home-Baked Potato Chips and …

June 16, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Career v. Careersism

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's losing streak and Israel

Richard Z. Chesnoff: ‘Palestinians’: Never Missing an Opportunity …

June 15, 2009

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu: How Judea and Samaria can become 'Palestine'

Daniel Pipes: Where Netanyahu's speech failed

June 12, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Some big thoughts about not acting so big

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's High Commissioner

June 11, 2009

Victor Davis Hanson: Our historically challenged President

Mitch Albom: Beware the True Believers

Lewis Grossberger: What we learn from the new Hitler photos

June 10, 2009

Mort Zuckerman: What Obama and his advisors won't -- or refuse to -- grasp about Israel and the Muslim world

The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky Lotsa pasta: Tips, techniques and (amazing) taste

June 9, 2009

Anne Bayefsky: Obama's stunning offense to Israel and the Jewish people

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: America's first Muslim president?

June 8, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Merchant must take responsibility for careless shopper?

Mark Steyn: A superpower that feeds on mediocrity cannot survive for long on leftovers from the past

Richard Z. Chesnoff: How do you say 'kumbaya' in Arabic?

June 5, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: In quest of spirituality

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's Arabian dreams

Charles Krauthammer: The Settlements Myth

June 4, 2009

Paul Greenberg: The War Comes to Little Rock

The Kosher Gourmet by Judy Hevrdejs: Splash it on! Tap your inner jazz musician and improvise when stirring up a vinaigrette

June 3, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. Should terrible teacher be exposed?

Jonathan Rosenblum: The Israel Lobby: Missing in Action

June 2, 2009

Dennis Prager: The Speech President Obama Won't Dare Give in Egypt

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Pressure on Israel raises war risk

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Sept. 26, 2008 / 26 Elul 5768

Change you can count on

By Lori Borgman

Lori Borgman
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | We are a nation divided: those who will stoop over to pick up loose change and those who won't.


Fewer and fewer of us seem to be interested in bending over for pennies, nickels and dimes. Quarters, maybe, but your smaller coins, not so much.


I was coming out of a store and saw a kid in front of me look at a dime on the pavement and deliberately step over it. He watched me pick it up and gave me a slight shrug as if to say, "Who cares?" Yes, well, you'll care when you're filling your own gas tank one day, kid.


A fast-food restaurant had one of those machines attached to the cash register that shoots your change down a slide. There was a quarter, two pennies and a dime already in the change machine before the cashier rang up my order. The customer before me didn't think 37 cents was worth the bother.


Mark my words, the man will be checking vending machines once his kids are in college.


Half the time I walk into the grocery store, there is change lying on the mat by the automatic door. If it is only a penny I think twice. When you figure how many dirty shoes from the parking lot have stepped on it, it's not worth the risk.


Plus, there's always the danger of bending over in the entryway and having your backside slammed by a grocery cart. That would clearly be a case of penny wise and pound foolish.


You have to wonder who is bothering to pick up coins these days. There's Gracie the Boston Terrier on You Tube who picks them up and deposits them in a drinking glass. Other than Gracie, it is a dwindling crowd.


I wonder if people with less income are more likely to pick up coins than those with a more generous income, or if wealthier people have a greater appreciation for compounded interest and are more likely to pick up a coin than someone who's never had a bank account. Or maybe it all goes back to how you were raised.


I can't see Bill Gates picking up coins off the sidewalk. Or Warren Buffet. Oprah? That one is a possibility.


George Soros is rich, but I can't see him picking coins off the ground. Well, not unless he thought a Republican had dropped them. I can see the Waltons of Wal-Mart fame picking up coins, though. I can even see them counting them at board meetings.


The bottom line is, we all have our price: the amount that makes us stop, stoop and swoop.


Personally, I stop for anything silver. It's like I really found something, even though it's barely enough to pay sales tax on a dollar. I'll also stop for a penny as long as it's shiny and not in a heavily trafficked area.


I don't pick up coins because I live by a motto of thrift, but because of an Everett Dirksen quote that lodged in my head as a youth. Dirksen was a colorful, rumpled senator with unmanageable hair, who once said, "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money."


Last week I netted 48 cents in found change. I'm that much closer to real money.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Lori Borgman is the author of , most recently, "Pass the Faith, Please" (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.) and I Was a Better Mother Before I Had Kids To comment, please click here. To visit her website click here.

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© 2008, Lori Borgman

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