Money: The Green Eyed F(r)iend
What is money to you? Does it define you as a person? Does it control every aspect of your life? It was once said: “Do you think you are free? Try one day without money and tell me what freedom feels like then.” Who knew that something created out of trees could be so unnatural.
The paradoxical truth about money is that it is your key to emancipation yet it is your ball and chain. You work at a job that you hate to get material things that you don’t need in order to impress people that don’t matter. The whole concept of money is confusing yet enticing, much like a well-rehearsed seductress that knows the game.
You think that it is your possession when it sits in your hand. Yet, who is really in control? Think of the life journey of every single dollar bill. If you were to follow it throughout the course of its life, you would witness the daily motions of very different people. This promiscuous slip of paper has seen people of all walks of life, from beggars to millionaires. A dollar bill can bring you immense (admittedly fake and fleeting) happiness when it enables you to live the life that you dream of. Yet, that same bill can smirk at the bottom of someone else’s pocket when you are down and desperate. It’s love for you is fleeting, yet only you longs for it when it is gone.
Every person has been affected by money whether he or she wants to admit it or not. Philosophers, politicians, writers, poets and even singers have written about it. It is an addiction that a very select few manage to give up as a result of enlightenment. However, to reach enlightenment, the majority of people would have to stop feeding their egos. And that is literally light years away from now.
Money has become an object of recognition. And it manifests itself in a variety of sneaky ways. It slithers in and out of the cracks of your life, your frustrating source of temptation. It is the universal language that we all share. A concept supposed to connect us all yet it divides us more than we are willing to admit. The sum of money spent on weapons on one single day has the ability to feed the poor for a lifetime. Yet it is used for the propagation of power. A force that hurts many, yet benefits very few. It has altered Man’s way of thinking and moral standards. What are the main reasons why people commit crimes? It is their need or even worse, their greed. All for Lady Money. The loss of a life is never a good reason. The loss of self-respect is never a good reason. And above all, moral integrity should never be spared for the sake of a measly promise of momentary pleasure. Does it really all matter in the end?
What type of feeling does the word “Money” itself invoke in you? Joy? Sorrow? Or the green-eyed monster, envy? Oh the irony.
Money, money, money.
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Money by William Henry Davies
When I had money, money, O! I knew no joy till I went poor; For many a false man as a friend Came knocking all day at my door. Then felt I like a child that holds A trumpet that he must not blow Because a man is dead; I dared Not speak to let this false world know. Much have I thought of life, and seen How poor men’s hearts are ever light; And how their wives do hum like bees About their work from morn till night. So, when I hear these poor ones laugh, And see the rich ones coldly frown— Poor men, think I, need not go up So much as rich men should come down. When I had money, money, O! My many friends proved all untrue; But now I have no money, O! My friends are real, though very few.