"The Budget Gap"

Well, budget time is here again. No---I am not talking about the school or the city, but right here in our own home. We have been doing a lot of sharing of feelings about that "gap." There is even a rule that we switch to "decaf coffee" during the discussion.

Anyway, this budget "gap" discussion in our home has been going on for 27 years. A long time ago, I had been to a seminar somewhere about "group process technique" and decided to try out the new fangled ideas. I ventured to share those ideas with my fiance. I said, "Just write your dreams down on a sheet of paper. I will write my dreams down on a sheet of paper. Then we will merge the list and each separately number the dreams from 1-50. Then we will get the composite priorities.

"All my dreams?" she asked.

"No, just the ones that involve money." Since money was a big part of a lot of the dreams, a lot of dreams were on those lists.

I have promised not to go over the differences in those two lists. However, I do remember one funny difference. She had listed life insurance as number 5 and I had listed it as number 35. (Her dad was a life agent). Over the years though, we have agreed on where this stands on the list.

So-----we have different "gaps"----the gap between what we dream of and what we have to spend. Lots of companies and yes other organizations have "gaps" depending on what THEY dream of. Only when the discussion has been COMPLETED is the "gap" decided-----NOT before.

During "Open Government" or Sunshine Week---this week---we celebrate citizens joining in on the discussion. The Observer celebrates their input and their discussion.