True richness is being alive
“SOME people are so poor, all they have is money.”
I love this quote. It speaks to what I think of many people who have material wealth – and not much else. This quote is often attributed to Jamaican singer-songwriter Bob Marley.
Another quote, in similar vein, that the reggae star made famous is: “Money is numbers, and numbers never end. If it takes money to be happy, your search for happiness will never end.”
I cannot say whether it was the ganja that Marley smoked in keeping with his Rastafarian religious beliefs that made him take a strong stand against the obscene accumulation of more wealth than is needed to survive comfortably.
Marley also said: “The very fact you have a place on this Earth is a gift of incredible wealth, and one that transcends monetary value.”
Such meaningful words, never mind that they could have been said when his head was spinning from a couple of puffs of marijuana.
The quote is meaningful and makes so much of what we believe we exist for daily, appear trivial and pointless. The very fact you have a place on this Earth is a gift of incredible wealth, and one that transcends monetary value. One needs nothing more than life, simply because without life we cease to exist.
No amount of money can make you feel lasting happiness. As wealth increases so do delusions of self-importance and grandeur. Yet we spend our lives accumulating as much material wealth as we can. There are those who measure success by owning a seaside penthouse, Swiss bank accounts, hypercars parked in the garage – a Ferrari, a Bugatti, an Aston Martin, and apartments in New York and along the French Riviera. But are they happy?
Depending on how one views happiness, it is debatable whether money can buy happiness. Where is the point of boasting you have no money woes yet your parents languish in an old-age home? What happiness can there be when your money attracts pretty young women, while your estranged wife and children must turn to the courts to fight for alimony?
Money has never made man happy, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. Wars have been fought over wealth.
The more of it one has, the more one wants. Almost everything we collectively do daily is a quest for more, for bigger, better, faster.
Money is a poor measure of wealth. There are some who have more money than they need or can ever spend, even if they were born five times. And yet, they are so morally and spiritually bankrupt as to be impoverished. Then there are those who live in abject poverty and are rich beyond comparison because they don’t regard money as all important – or the raison d'etre for living.
Money is just a part of the life. It is only a tool as other tools to use in your life. There are many other aspects that are important such as your love, your friends, your children. Without a family, a purpose in life, or a place in the community, money can buy only distractions.
I have witnessed the futility of wealth during the Covid-19 pandemic. There are those who succumbed to the microscopic bug with millions in the bank.
All their wealth could not get them something that even a beggar enjoys – fresh air in the lungs. One breath of fresh morning air is so much more rewarding than the purchase of any material object. Because no material object can be enjoyed without that breath of fresh air.
You don't need the former, but you need the latter.
The best things in life are not things. Some people have plenty of money, but they don’t have the simple things in life that make it enjoyable.
Think of all the movie stars and singers who have committed suicide. They did not have love, faith, contentment or anything worth having. All they had was money.
The most important things in life cannot be bought: the quality of love you devote to your partner, the intensity of your family relationships, what you have contributed to saving the environment, the lives you have helped along the way, and the inner peace you have attained.
By all means enjoy your successes of studying hard for a rewarding career. Enjoy your hard-earned money. But don’t separate yourself from the true essence of your being. Don’t be fooled into thinking you are defined by such things.
Steve Jobs, the charismatic founder of the Apple computer empire who died at the age of 56 from cancer, said: “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful... that's what matters to me.”
It’s easy for those of us with enough money to pay the monthly bills to forget what a struggle life can be without it.
There are plenty of folks doing incredibly skilled and underpaid work but nurses come first to mind.
Nurses form the backbone of health-care workers who continue to serve on the front lines of the war against the viral outbreak, putting their own lives at risk.
Many rich folks who managed to beat Covid-19 in hospital owe their lives to devoted nurses, who struggle to live from pay packet to pay packet.
Given a reprieve from death, will these well-off people think of easing the plight of these kind souls who perform their duties with compassion, courage, passion and dedication?
Rather than chasing wealth, go outside, raise your hands to the sky, take a deep breath and hug the world. Observe the flowers, trees, animals and birds.
Marvel at the creation of yourself and your fellow humans. Play music, sing, paint, write, act, laugh, cry, love. Your wealth is being alive. Your richness is life.