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The Problem with Money as Power

As a famous artist once said, "Mo Money, Mo Problems." Indeed, it appears that having more money, coming from a colonial mindset that makes you seek money as the primary value of your work and more importantly your worth, money does indeed create problems. When someone comes from an upbringing in which money is inherited, a life in which there is an absence of want or need because the parents provided adequately and comfortably for children, money is merely a tool, NOT a an end in and of itself.

Yet people who come from families in which there is or was no money, they will always judge you by how much you make. They judge you based on your profession, your income. They might be too cheap to buy expensive things because these things are considered wasteful, but ultimately, these people are and will always be cheap. People who are cheap are naturally attracted to partners who are not cheap, strangely enough. However, people who judge others by their profession are truly bankrupt.

However, in an upbringing where children grow up wanting things and never being able to afford things, as adults they overcompensate for what they didn't have earlier in life. If a family is materially poor, yet manage to acquire wealth through hard work, achieve the American Dream, their displays of wealth consists of superficial material things: expensive cars, big houses, and fancy accessories. But at the core, despite the appearance of the Good Life, these people still hold onto practices of pennypinching and overall stinginess because that is essential to how they got to where they are. They will buy the expensive watch and then tell people how they paid for it. They lack graciousness. If people come to eat, they will only order enough for people to eat because they don't want to pay for more food. They also don't want to waste food. These people don't understand that the true purpose of money is not what money buys you, but how money can afford opportunities to do what is important for other people. Money affords you not just stuff; money affords you stuff so you can get to the important OTHER stuff in life--with is people. Money allows you to treat people as if they were kings. Money allows you to pamper guests. The sole purpose of money is to be able to share that money with others, for the education of your children or the comfort of your guests. It is ultimately about people. Thus money is a means to an end, not an end in itself.

For those who grew into their money through hard work, they judge others based on their perceived lack of hard work. FOr them, money is used to evaluate someone's worth. If you bring in 100K into the family, you are absolved of any household responsibilities. If you bring in 20K, your level of engagement with the family must be different. You are expected to work twice as hard. Why be poor? Why be afraid of bettering yourself if the only thing of value is ultimately your self worth. If you are measured by your salary, or lack thereof, then how can you be content with being jobless? I don't think that earning a ridiculous salary absolves you from your basic duties to your family and children. But I think money is an easy answer out of any and all entanglements. I think the purpose of money is to make life easier; to make it easier for others in your family and even the community. If money is the only thing you seek, the highest regard you have, then no matter how much you have you will always want more. You will always aspire for more businesses, more wealth. You will have no respect for those who don't share these sentiments. That's okay. Despite what Jefferson wrote, not everyone is created equal. Men and women are endowed with distinct responsibilities, and their rights fluctuate based on how much money they make annually. Their rights differ based on their income bracket, their education, their access to the Good Life, their superficial displays.

A truly cheap person complains constantly about the price of things, because there is no greater generosity the person feels for what she is able to afford. She complains of cost regardless of ability or privilege. This is the truly bankrupt.

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