You can't take it with you.

LMBehr — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 10:24:44 -0500

Money should properly be viewed as a tool for providing one with the basics of life: flood, clothing, shelter and yes, the occasional treat. When did it turn into the root of all evil or, as I see it, stupidity and greed?

We all know people who see it as a way of buying intangibles; happiness and self-esteem (stupidity) and/or status symbols; designer clothing, jewelry, etc.(greed) and power (greed AND stupidity). But, isn’t it obvious to anyone that this is a defective mentality and needs to be curbed? Instead, the World seems to thrive on it. It has spread from individual people to governments, corporations, all sorts of institutions whom are operating on the goal of how much money do you have, how much can you spend and how well do you hide the rest.

My husband and I have a middle class background. He has worked for the NYC Board of Education system for twenty five years. I worked for NYS for twenty years before going back to school for a degree in Health care administration. I now work part time in a doctor’s office in addition to pursuing a newly discovered interest in acting. We earn additional money through a tax preparation business that he started twenty one years ago.

We own one home and two cars. We use credit cards (a little too much at times) but we have some savings in the bank. We give to charity and to our families and friends on gift-giving occasions. On vacations, we stay home and handle things around the house; entertain and/or visit those families and friends or, periodically take a trip for a week or so. Besides our honeymoon in Las Vegas, our biggest bash was a cruise to Alaska to celebrate our 50th birthdays (we’re both born in 1957). We’re thinking about Hawaii to celebrate when we retire. I use coupons when grocery shopping, and apply for rebates when they are available

Unlike our parents, we pay for the ‘luxury’ of having a lawn service during the summer and, once a month, we pay for a cleaning service to give our home a good going over.

You know what? We think that’s good enough. Oh sure, we’d like to be able to have more in the bank and be able to help out a bit more with our families during emergencies or when they’re starting out (college and marriages) but, we do what we can.

Our annual income is under $200,000.00 a year. There are CEO’s and others out there who probably earn that in a week, if not better. And there are people out there who probably won’t see that in a year even if they worked six jobs, all at the same time.

What is the justification for some to earn so much and others so little?

Don’t tell me it’s education. My husband and I have both known some incredibly stupid people with several college degrees, as well as some that are formidably intelligent with only a GED. In all honesty, my view of a college degree is a piece of paper for which you are prepared to pay an exorbitant amount of money. With the exception of people who are learning an actual skill, such as physicians, architects, engineers etc., the rest of us are merely learning an idealistic view of something, which has nothing to do with the reality of your career and/or how your employer will want you to perform it.

Don’t tell me it’s based on marketability. Is a professional baseball player more necessary than a truck driver; a trash collector; a firefighter?

I’m sure that most people are familiar with the musical “Hello Dolly” and the line that convinces Dolly to marry the millionaire Horace Vandergelder:

"Money is like manure. It's not worth a thing unless it's spread about, encouraging young things to grow."

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You can't take it with you.