It's How You MAKE It!

I’m reading an excellent book right now called “Michael Tolliver Lives!” One line in the book got me to thinking, though. When the character of Mary Ann returns to San Francisco on her husband’s private jet, Michael thinks “At least she has the good taste to be embarrassed about it.”

My question is that if this guy has worked hard and earned enough money to buy a private jet, why on Earth should his wife be embarrassed to use it?

Another incident along the same lines was when we were watching TV in the breakroom, and there was a “news” story about the most expensive hotel in the world, in Tokyo – something like $1200 per night. One of the guys started spouting off about “damned rich people”, and I turned to him and said “Yeah… you wouldn’t be rich if they PAID you to, would you?” Didn’t really have a response to that.

A former girlfriend of mine talked one time early in our relationship about how she and a delinquent friend of hers years ago had trespassed onto a rich person’s estate under construction and had tipped the port-a-potty down a hill so that it tore up the landscaped yard. She seemed very proud of this subversive action. I asked if she would like to be wealthy. She admitted that she would. I then asked if she would like it if some snot-nosed kid tore up HER yard with a port-a-potty. She mumbled something about it being different, but couldn’t elucidate.

Let’s see if I can cut through some of the junk about wealth here.

I think that the problem with wealth is NOT how much you make, but how you MAKE it. We’ve come to the understanding over the last thirty years that wealth is good, therefore any way that you make wealth is good. Mr. Bush even stated “What’s good for business is good for America.” Granted, he was quoting someone else – I think that it was Rockefeller. But this statement, when you examine it beyond a purely superficial level, is utterly wrong. Child labor, for instance, is great for business, but piss-poor for America. Unless it’s someone else’s children, of course. We’re perfectly okay with letting someone else’s kids be enslaved for us. Same with sweat shops. Hey, for Chinese dairy farmers, putting Melamine in their milk was GREAT for business… at least until those whiny kids started complaining about their insides being coated with hardening liquid plastic.

I think that there’s nothing wrong with being wealthy. I’ve known some perfectly nice wealthy people and known of others who are doing wonderful things with their wealth.

Some examples of ill-gotten wealth? A landlord who will evict a family instead of doing whatever he can to help them. Phil Knight, who maintains his Nike wealth by enslaving Chinese kids. Insurance companies who make money by denying health care to the sick.

Follow the logic? If your money was made at the expense of someone else, then you really don’t deserve it, and shouldn’t enjoy it.

And also remember that I am a Christian. As such, I encourage people to tithe ten percent or greater of any wealth that God sees fit to give them. And no, you don’t need to tithe it to the church. Tithe it to a neighborhood food bank or something. Whatever you’re into that will do good for someone else.

Peace.

Randal