What does money do to you?
A lot of things, but let me tell you the worst thing it does to you – it makes you believe in yourself. Self-help books will tell you it’s a good thing. Well, that’s why they are self-help books after all – they’re helping self, and for selfish reasons of the authors who think themselves guru. See, the authors definitely believe in themselves, since they wrote a whole book on how to do just that, and some more of that ego they feed on the fact that they’re helping you, a poor loser. But why do we despise self-help books, if believing in self is such gold? Probably cause it isn’t.
Let’s be real now – we don’t like ourselves. Whoever tells me they do is a liar, and deep inside they know it. So how are we supposed to believe in the thing we don’t like? It’s not inspirational, it’s not heroic, it’s not grand – that faith is petty. Anyone can do it, but nobody can truly – because it’s not worth it. We know ourselves up and down, and if we’re real, we’ll just have to admit – in this world, there are things far more wonderful than you. Far more worth believing in. Even other people – people better than you in every respect, worth believing in and admiring. War heroes. Freedom fighters. Paralympic champions. Even your own children, they are worth believing more than you.
A lot of things, but let me tell you the worst thing it does to you – it makes you believe in yourself. Self-help books will tell you it’s a good thing. Well, that’s why they are self-help books after all – they’re helping self, and for selfish reasons of the authors who think themselves guru. See, the authors definitely believe in themselves, since they wrote a whole book on how to do just that, and some more of that ego they feed on the fact that they’re helping you, a poor loser. But why do we despise self-help books, if believing in self is such gold? Probably cause it isn’t.
Let’s be real now – we don’t like ourselves. Whoever tells me they do is a liar, and deep inside they know it. So how are we supposed to believe in the thing we don’t like? It’s not inspirational, it’s not heroic, it’s not grand – that faith is petty. Anyone can do it, but nobody can truly – because it’s not worth it. We know ourselves up and down, and if we’re real, we’ll just have to admit – in this world, there are things far more wonderful than you. Far more worth believing in. Even other people – people better than you in every respect, worth believing in and admiring. War heroes. Freedom fighters. Paralympic champions. Even your own children, they are worth believing more than you.
And you know what money does? It makes you blind to all of that. It makes you think that the ultimate thing to believe in – is your glorious self. Cause if you weren’t worth believing, you wouldn’t have amassed all this money, right? Look at what you’ve accomplished! Better yet, look at what you can afford! Half of the world, pretty much. And you wish that feeling of accomplishment could last forever, yet like any feeling, it doesn’t. Amassing money soon leaves you with the frustration of what you thought it would feel like, as you realise that it pretty much did nothing for you, except made you want more money, jump to the next level. |
They say about crack-cocaine that it can’t even give you a decent high – all it does, is makes you want more crack. Money is like crack, isn’t that funny? That we spend so much time and worry, trying to protect our children from the perilous effect of drug abuse – we give them lecture after lecture, lesson after lesson, show video after video, tell threat after threat… and then we encourage them to be “practical”, get real education so they can get a good pay, drill the importance of financial stability, property and promotion, shower them with all prosperity we can, so no one can tell us we’re a bad parent. We take one drug away, and shove their faces into another. Cause all money really does is making you want more money. So you can believe in yourself.
What money does not do, is simply give you things you want to have. There is joy in ownership, and I won’t deny that. I love the things I have. Biggest part of it being – most things I own, I got for free. There is something about getting things for free that makes you cherish them. And there is something about paying for things that steals that joy. How funny is it, that people look down on love that can be bought, stigmatise gold-diggers and ridicule sugar-daddies, yet we don’t mind paying for everything else. “But you can’t avoid paying for some things.” Probably true. But you don’t love the things you paid for, cause you paid for them. Your love was substituted with your money.
I remember one time when I was on my very last money, I saw a bunch of roses for 60p and I bought them. The roses that would ordinarily cost about 5 pounds, which I couldn’t possibly affort, considering I needed to eat. Never in my life had I prayed for flowers so much! I prayed that they would bloom and stay blooming for all eternity, for them to stay alive for long, prayed for those flowers every morning, changed water every day, and every time I came home in the evening, they were such joy to me! Cause 60p doesn’t really count for paying, so I considered I got roses as a bonus. And goodness me, I loved them!
Now I can afford flowers, and I’m not thrilled about getting a new bunch. Cause I know if I pay the full price for it, it will be a completely different story. So I do without.
You know what it is? Money can only get you things you can afford. But the real joy is when you get things you cannot afford. And only those things are worth owning.
God gave Himself for free, and now we can know Him and love Him. Otherwise, could you afford God? I didn’t think so. My faith remains the biggest luxury in my life.
What money does not do, is simply give you things you want to have. There is joy in ownership, and I won’t deny that. I love the things I have. Biggest part of it being – most things I own, I got for free. There is something about getting things for free that makes you cherish them. And there is something about paying for things that steals that joy. How funny is it, that people look down on love that can be bought, stigmatise gold-diggers and ridicule sugar-daddies, yet we don’t mind paying for everything else. “But you can’t avoid paying for some things.” Probably true. But you don’t love the things you paid for, cause you paid for them. Your love was substituted with your money.
I remember one time when I was on my very last money, I saw a bunch of roses for 60p and I bought them. The roses that would ordinarily cost about 5 pounds, which I couldn’t possibly affort, considering I needed to eat. Never in my life had I prayed for flowers so much! I prayed that they would bloom and stay blooming for all eternity, for them to stay alive for long, prayed for those flowers every morning, changed water every day, and every time I came home in the evening, they were such joy to me! Cause 60p doesn’t really count for paying, so I considered I got roses as a bonus. And goodness me, I loved them!
Now I can afford flowers, and I’m not thrilled about getting a new bunch. Cause I know if I pay the full price for it, it will be a completely different story. So I do without.
You know what it is? Money can only get you things you can afford. But the real joy is when you get things you cannot afford. And only those things are worth owning.
God gave Himself for free, and now we can know Him and love Him. Otherwise, could you afford God? I didn’t think so. My faith remains the biggest luxury in my life.