“You’re being selfish!”
Has anyone ever told you this? Has anyone ever accused you of being selfish when, in actuality, all you’re trying to do is look out for yourself? I’m sure that at one point or another, we’ve come across such people and we’ve gotten such accusations. But then, did they ever stop us from going after what we wanted? Did they make us change our minds about what was the right thing to do?
When I think about it, it just looks like many times, the world tends to appreciate those who suffer the most, but not necessarily reward them in a way that will be benefitting of such suffering. When we do things for our own benefit and to further our causes, we receive flak for it, but then we get more praise when we channel that energy into doing things for others.
I wonder, why are billionaires so hated? Many of them made their money through legitimate means and got rich. They then put in systems that keep printing money for them. Yeah, they provide jobs, and a lot of people actually rely on them for their livelihood. Do you know how many lives will be crippled today if Amazon simply vanished from existence? Do you know the impact the economy will have if one major employer of labor suddenly disappears?
But then, society is always coming after them. We call them selfish when they buy private jets or buy islands and villas that they may never get to live in, because they have so many of them. We rain insults on them when they spend money on things like going to the bottom of the ocean or flying to the moon. We call them selfish for choosing to spend their money the way they wanted to spend it. That is what it’s all about.
There is a reason why there will always be a bias against children of the rich who come into the world on a soft landing, finding everything almost ready for them. No matter what they do or what they achieve, they will always be put down because they allegedly ‘had it easy’. If a rich man’s son and a poor man’s son go to the same university and they both score top grades, the amount of compliments the rich man’s son will receive will be little compared to what the poor man’s son will.
Of course, I’m not saying that all rich people are good and all poor people are bad. I know that there are very rich douchebags all over the world right now, and it doesn’t help at all that billionaires keep getting embroiled in scandals all over the place. I’m just saying that many times, when we criticize these rich folk, maybe we should do so from a place of logic. Don’t attribute to a billionaire the role a government should play in society.
Yeah, it would be nice if they took more interest in humanitarian acts and more selfless acts of service. But then, being selfless isn’t something that should be left to the rich and powerful alone, because everyone can be selfish just as everyone can be selfless. We shouldn’t wait until we’re billionaires before we help those in need, and even more importantly, we should never be made to feel bad about spending our money the way we see fit.
As long as it’s all legal, of course.
