Perception of Wealth

[hyphenate]

Wealth is All in One's Point of View


One day...a wealthy family man took his son on a trip to the countryside so he could show his son see how simple living was. His idea was to remind his son of how grateful he should be to live as a wealthy child. The two stayed one day and one night in the farm of a very simple farm house with a humble and kind farmer and his family. At the end of their journey on the way back home the father asked the son:

Father: What did you think of our time, there at the poor farmers home?

The son replied: Very nice dad.

Father: Did you noticed how poor they were?

Son: Yes.

Father: What did you learn?

Son: I learned that we have one dog in the house, ...and they have four. We have a fountain in the garden and they have a stream that has no end. We have imported lamps in the garden, they have the stars. Our garden goes to the edge of our property, they have the entire horizon as their back yard.

At the end of the son's reply the father was speechless and his son added: "Thank you dad for showing me how rich really they are and how poor we are."

[VelmaD]

1. Ya know...I'm thinking most poor people...

would get a little offended by the way the wealthy try to romaticize it like that. I'm just saying.

If we can make it seem like being poor ain't so bad then we don't have to do anything about poverty.

[northzax]

2. in the immortal words of Everclear

I hate those people who love to tell you
money is the root of all that kills
they have never been poor
they have never had the joy of a welfare Christmas.

[hyphenate]

7. Being born and raised poor

I can tell you that sometimes the gift of a simple thing can be more rewarding than the most grandiose gifts of all.

When I was very young, about 8, I guess, my uncle gave me a dictionary and thesaurus book set for Christmas. Over the forty years that have passed between, I think that one gift has remained one of my fondest, and until many, many years later, I still had that book set. (Up until around 5 or 6 years ago, as a matter of fact)

It's not the cost of the item that should be a factor--it's the thought, the meaning, the motivation behind something which makes gifts special things in people's lives.

[hyphenate]

4. Ah, but its a matter of perception

more than anything else. I'm surrounded by the "trappings" of my life, but while some part of me still loves everything I've gotten through my life, the thought of a simpler existence is a lot more enviable.

Seriously, I would chuck it all if it would give me peace of mind.

This sort of simplicity in life--allowing for the mind to have the wealth of freedom and visions--is part of a lot of religions and cultures. I envy them that ability to find out the really important things in life.

On the other hand, I can't read pure "poorness" into the anecdote: a farmer such as that described could not survive in today's world.

[VelmaD]

6. It's really hard to have...

"the wealth of freedom and visions" when you have to spend all your time worrying about how you're going to keep them from foreclosing on the house or turning the electricity off.

[hyphenate]

9. You're right

in that respect, but that also assumes most of us own our homes, or are already homeless. I'm lucky in that a friend opened his home to me and I've been living rent-free for about a year now. However, there were many days when I wasn't sure if I would be homeless the following week, or where I would end up. Especially when new owners in Calif. raised our rents by $300, and a single bedroom apartment went up to $1200 a month. In fact, many times when I lived there, I had to live without electricity as they shut it off before I had the money to pay for it to be turned back on. I guess that qualifies me for being among the poorest in our country.

On the other hand, I would have been fully devastated if I didn't have my animals, or didn't have eyes to see, ears to hear and a mind to remind me that life went on, with or without a roof over my head, lights to turn on or a car to get around. I've been without several "luxuries" from time to time, and cherish them even more when I have them. However, when I think about how surely two-thirds of the population of planet Earth lives every day and night, it makes me stop and ponder why we can be so well off and they have nothing.

[LynzM]

3. Hrm....

I agree with the idea that a lot of what we value in our society could use some re-evaluation.... a beautiful place to live, and a family that love you, are valuable things to have, and cannot be measured with money.

I agree with the above posters, but I don't think that's really what you intended with this post, is it?

[hyphenate]

5. Nope--

see the answer above!

Mainly, the purpose is to show that what we see as the culmination of our lives (at least in most "civilized" countries) is in what we have obtained--in possessions. Less than twenty years ago, a popular saying (still popular today) was "He who dies with the most toys wins." A wonderful capitalistic viewpoint (and I really think capitalism deserves its plaudits in many ways), but it leaves behind the peace and tranquility of what a simpler life can bring, in terms of what we need and should receive from life. The more we complicate our lives with these acquisitions, the further we move away from a life filled with more attainable goals and more easily achieved rewards.

[northzax]

8. anyone who thinks substinance farming

creates peace an tranquility has a trust fund.

it is hard, grueling, backbreaking work. You end up with a shorter lifespan, crippled bodies and poverty. sounds tranquil, doesn't it?

I don't mean to say that there is no honor in it, there is honor in everything, as long as you do the best you can honestly at it. But there is no intrinsic karmic value in being poor, or rich, or anything.

[hyphenate]

10. Agreed

but I would never consider "substinance farming" to be a goal. Taking from the land what we need is one thing, and many hands make easier work, but when farming turns into a massive enterprise it's no longer living off the land, it's living to own the land, and using shortcuts to attain over and above what you need to survive.

An example in big cities has always been "victory gardens" for residents of a certain area--my dad was a gardener, so he knew what to grow in a plot of soil, and we always benefitted with large, red tomatoes or green peppers, and for some, what they can grow in that plot is well worth it for them. And for those who own their own farms and use the land for their own benefit, and who might take the extras to market to help pull in a little extra money is one thing. To use and abuse animals to practice corporate farming is yet another. I also think there would be less carnivores and more vegetarians if our meat wasn't wrapped in plastic and stacked in markets in friendly little packages, instead of slaughtering an animal for dinner.

Co-ops of the 60s and 70s (as an adjunct to the hippie generation) always lived a lot more simply and in many ways flourished because their aims were not to accumulate wealth, but to live free and explre the universe.