-How many times have you heard this? Lots of times, I am willing to bet. Our culture sends us two very conflicting messages about money. The first, a message that tells us money is everything. Celebrity culture, the rich and famous, Wall Street greediness, the twinge of jealousy we feel when we see a house bigger than ours, a car newer than our car.
- Then, there’s the completely opposite message, the one that treats wealth – and the wealthy – with suspicion, that works hard to teach us NOT to envy them, to see the limitations that wealth has and the potential trouble it can cause. In some families, it gets to the point of feeling that money is somehow dirty, that it’s not a proper topic for conversation, that flaunting what you’ve got is tacky and that being poor is almost a virtue.
- But money IS important, and here, today, I’d like to get all of us to agree on this one basic assumption. Whatever we feel about money, people with money, or the pursuit of money, can we at least agree that money IS important? Very important, even? We can go into more detail later on, try to define what exactly it means, to say that money is important, or what kind of money is important. But for now, will you agree with me that dismissing money as unnecessary is a mistake?
-Another quote that I like: “Money on its own is neither good nor bad. It is a means to an end.” Again, this is not to say that money is not important. It is to say that money is not “dirty,” but money is also not everything. Money is a tool that enables you to protect yourself, to build yourself and your family a better life, and to give back to your community.
- Money is important because having money means that you will not be destitute. It means that you are not dependent on being employed, living paycheck to paycheck and having to put up with abuse by your boss because you badly need your job.
-Money is important because it means less financial worries. Sure, the wealthy worry too – they worry about losing their fortune, for example. But this is not the same as worrying about being able to put food on the table.
- Money is important because it enables you to give back to your community, to pick the charities and causes you believe in and support them.
