Pennies have had an interesting role in the history of the United States. It was first minted in 1793 and was designed by Benjamin Franklin in 1787. In 1909, Lincoln's face was first put on the penny under the direction of Teddy Roosevelt on the 100th anniversary of his birth.
Phrases like "a penny saved is a penny earned" and "find a penny, pick it up, and all the day you'll have good luck" used to be pervasive in society. You used to be able to purchase things with just a penny,"penny candy" and a child's face would light up if they happened to find one. People would throw pennies into a fountain to make a wish and for good luck, and others would transform pennies using melting machines to make flat pennies to take home as souvenirs (we totally do this in my family!).
Recently there has been a debate about getting rid of the penny because as of 2006 it costs more to make a penny than a penny is worth. Surprisingly, 67% of Americans want to keep the penny and according to the Time for Kids poll, 77% of kids do also.
While the purchasing power of the penny is still the classic 1/100, the intrinsic value of the penny is that it is small but mighty. The penny is talked about, no one talks about nickels and dimes with the frequency and reverence as they do about the penny. But what is more valuable about the penny is that it is a call to hit the pause button on our busy lives.
When I was a kid and I first heard about finding pennies and getting good luck, I was on a mission every time that we went somewhere where I 'might' find one. There was genuine joy when I would find one having this feeling that I would have good luck, and that hope, that belief in someone out there leaving that penny to bless me with good luck was the most important thing. I used to carry pennies in my pocket when we would go to the playground or the mall and strategically drop them to spread the luck that I had found with strangers.
As a teenager, I stopped hunting for pennies and hoping for dollars (really dreaming big with inflation) as my value turned away from the simple enjoyment of just finding one, to wondering what purchasing power it lent me. I was so focused on keeping up with my peers and experiencing the next event, the next movie, the next concert that little things like looking for pennies were wiped clear from my radar.
Today as I walked out of the crowded Aldi (its supposed to snow today in St Louis so everyone needed to get out ASAP this morning to get their grocery shopping in), arms full of my groceries for the next few weeks, I tried to return my cart and got swept into a moment that has put me here in the middle of the afternoon thinking about pennies. Just seconds before I had exited the store, a woman had dumped a significant portion of her change purse looking for a quarter to check out her cart to get her groceries, she was in such a hurry to get into the store that she chose not to pick up the change, even after prompted by a sweet older lady who was returning her cart at the same time. Enter me, arms full of bags, hurrying to get my groceries before my group meeting and get home to my laundry, studying, packing, and papers, just trying to return my cart and get on my way home in time to run all afternoon, when she started to bend down and pick up the pennies. Something about it made me pause, I started to help her pick up the pennies splayed out on the pavement, coin by coin as she exclaimed incredulously that the woman wasn't going to pick them up, and no one ever picks up pennies anymore except her. Which got me thinking how true that is, how most of the time we are too busy moving to the next thing on the list that we don't ever stop to pick up a penny.
Our culture has lost the art of slowing down and enjoying the moment. We get locked into fast paced schedules where we must get to the next event and we get into the habit of squeezing in time for friends, family, work whatever it is. We pencil people in for quick meetings, schedule phone conversations and try not to interrupt people's lives. The art of long siestas, enjoying each other's company and being disconnected from technology has been lost in American society. People don't take the same joy that they used to in building relationships and getting lost in conversation, in a museum, in a new place, really in life.
What will it take to get us to stop and find the joy in something that we literally pass by nearly every day? What does it take to motivate people, to motivate communities to notice and really engage in the world around them outside of their laptops and smartphones?
Food for thought, and I am finding it a challenge to myself to stop, slow down and look for pennies.
If you are curious to know more penny facts check out:
The History Channel's Ten Things You Didn't Know about the Penny
http://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-penny
Or about the Penny Debate check out:
http://www.timeforkids.com/news/penny-debate/76591
