“How much money is enough?”
July 12, 2017
Do you also use punch-lines from TV series and movies in your daily life?
I ask you because I do that all the time… In fact, I would be lost without them, because they cause relief, joy, escape, sarcasm… or whatever is necessary in order to “survive” the day.
I have them stored in a special “box” in my mind, and they somehow automatically pop-up, according to occasion. And some of them, they are so good, you just can’t shake them off…
Most enjoyable moment is when you say such a line, and people around you not only recognize it, but improvise by supplementing with one of their own, but from a different movie!
The punch-line above us, serving as a title of this text, was pronounced by Steven Seagal in his film “On Deadly Ground”. He addressed it to the villain of the movie, who would gladly spill oil and contaminate the world around him, just to add more money, on the pile of money he already had…
So, this punch-line comes to my mind every time I come across a person whose greed is bigger than his natural pride of being a human being. And don’t get me wrong, this has nothing to do with people who are being wealthy, rich or tycoons. There are people who are literally poor and still are greedy… A negative condition is what it is, and it applies to all. But unfortunately for those who are… fortunate, wealth magnifies negative actions. If one is to “have it all” he will also have its effects!
…say when!
When someone offers us a cup of coffee and volunteers to pour milk into it, he will use the famous phrase “say when!” in order for him to stop pouring. For those not familiar, there is a funny reply to this, by answering “…when!” instead of “stop”, “enough” or “thank you”.
Now let’s imagine something: If in an equivalent way someone would have the possibility to endlessly pour money into our lap, asking us to “…say when!” would you ever reply to that?! Because, excuse me, but I would stand by and let him pour!
For how long? Well… I don’t know, what kind of question is that, just let the man pour, let’s not interrupt him, stay silent, take a vacation and come back next year…
But let’s be serious… How much money is enough, is surely a number. So, mathematically speaking we are in search of a figure with many zeros behind it. But if we are to have as many as we like, the problem remains how many they should be. Because each time I come up with a number, there can still be a higher one than before! Would you take any less?!
No, we always would go for the next greater number, and, in a logistic manner, this would be the right thing to do…
This could be the very reason, why people who have so much wealth, that they are unable to fix it into a specific number, still strive for more… What does this mean? In case you don’t know already, just think! Wealth is business of all kinds and investments in shares, cash, land, houses, art, diamonds, gold, etc. all spread in a great number of countries. And one reason all this cannot be measured, is because this entire fortune will be constantly galloping ahead!
This is like a spiral, a kind of a dancing vortex, that most cannot escape participating in…
More will always be more and the funniest part is that so many people without money power are also trapped by the gravity of that vortex. Their desire to want more, traps them right there. Not having it, wanting it, being a prisoner of it…
Is “more” always better?! Is the mathematical way, the only point of view to see this from?...
And just now, a thought crossed my mind! Is this actually proof that, in this particular case, mathematics failed us by being right?!
The question is still hanging there waiting to be answered, so, what are we going to do with it?
Could we somehow rethink this? How much would you say is enough?
But I don’t want a number, since this will lead us to the next higher number above it!
“How much money is enough?”
Maybe the answer to this is mostly a state of mind, an attitude and an understanding of our surroundings. Maybe the answer is anything but a number…
Therefore:
“As much as is needed to retain independence to the freedom of living!”