Money – or the lack thereof

Money has become quite powerful in shaping nearly every aspect of our lives. It has become our number one drive to live and a top priority to obtain. It’s probably normal in this day and age, right? Besides, we live in a world driven by money, where everything we do is measured by how much money we can gain from it. In the public eye, we are judged by how much money we make, not the value we create.

Of course, money has proven convenient and quite expedient even. I have no issues with it nor am I demonizing the use of it, but it’s concerning how much control we allow it to have over our lives, we prioritize it more actively than our social relationships, and we consistently listen to its dictates over our own personal values and perceptions of reality. We basically allowed it, without protest, to infiltrate and infect parts of life that are essential to our humanity.

Clearly, our unquestioning subservience to money carries a high personal cost. Just as Henry David Thoreau pointed out in his book Walden,

“The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.”

Everything we have acquired in this life – be it status or fame, material goods, wealth – it requires us to sacrifice a portion of our life in exchange. The true cost is not just the monetary price; it's our time with ourselves, our families, health, and social relationships.

Ironically, a lack of money often enables us to give something of more value than one filled with financial abundance. I’m pretty sure many would think otherwise, of course – after all, think of everything money can buy or do!

But let's pause and think for a moment. Let’s say for instance, you wanted to give your friend a gift, but since you're financially unable to buy one, you decide to make something instead. Say, you decide to make a chess table because you know your friend loves chess. So, you begin searching design ideas, looking for materials available around you, and perhaps consulting your neighborhood for advice on how to build it. Once everything is ready, you set your mind and hands to work. (It does not have to be a chess table though. It could be anything but, you get the idea.)

Now, imagine yourself as the friend in this scenario—how would you feel receiving such a gift? And then compare that to receiving the same gift, but purchased from a store. Sure, a purchased gift may reflect someone’s hard-earned money, but what does it say about a person who goes out of their way to personally make something just for you? The thought behind it – the hours dedicated, the attention given, and the creativity they worked hard to bring to fruition.

When we lack money, we have only ourselves as "capital" to offer when helping or giving to others. It behooves us to give more of our time and effort, creating a deeper connection with those we help and, consequently, strengthening our social relationships.

I am in no way downplaying the idea of having money; I believe it’s equally important.

I know that there’s still much to be said on this subject, and many arguments have been weaved in defense of the expediency of money. I may not be fully in favor for it, but I think it's best to keep in mind what Ralph Waldo Emerson said in his essay Self-reliance about speaking our truth as we understand it in the present moment :

“Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict everything you said today.”

I was working on another essay when these thoughts suddenly hijacked my mind, derailing my train of thought. I had to write them down quickly; if I didn’t, I might contradict myself and feel differently tomorrow, then I won’t have anything to look back on if I decided to write more on this subject.

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