A random thought pattern without clear objective.

I associate with a number of graduate students, law students, medical students, and one or two business students. For the most part, the graduate students are recieving with more money than they spend and the other classes of post-graduates are living in debt. All, however, share the expectation of a sizable increase in means starting a few years in the future.

So why, then, does it seem that the students with the steepest education costs and the longest total time to accrue debt before earning significant wages are the students with the most comfortable lifestyles? None of us live in poverty, despite almost all earning beneath the so-called “‍poverty line‍”, but the deeper-into-debt people seem more likely to have the frills.

I suppose this comes from the common mental habit of drawing lines. While living without debt the question is “‍how can I make ends meet?‍”, but once over that line into the borrowing side it seems to change into “‍how much should I borrow to maintain my lifestyle?‍” Similar irrational abandoning of good principals once a line is crossed is seen in patterns of sin, addiction, and other self-destructive behavior. At the first pull on the cigarette we switch from non-smoker to smoker and tossing it aside before the second pull is not even contemplated.

This analysis leads me to desire the removal of lines in my life that I might not be tempted to abandon principals once I slip across them. But to abandon the lines is to lose the guidance and control they provide. Is there a way to keep the guard rail but not the fall on the other side?