"Do you think it's more virtuous to do $5,000 worth of good for someone and get $0 in return, or to do $10,000 worth of good for someone and get $2,000 in return? ... Most people believe there's some conflict between giving and receiving." - Sebastian Marshall, Ikigai
When I was a kid, I wanted to be rich. A baseball player. I got slightly less dumb. Owner. A few more brain cells ... general manager. A little better ... agent ... businessman.
That'd work.
Then I realized that term meant nothing. Then I watched TV and realized our cultural ideal "businessman" was a douche.
So naturally, I wanted to help people. Which meant I couldn't be rich.
Like most people who try to be nice, I saw a conflict. Be nice and poor, or sell your soul and seek riches.
... of course, it's bullshit. Life isn't zero sum. Clawing your way through an antiquated bureaucracy may happen via zero-sum competitions -- trampling people to the top. Depends.
But outside of that system, being mean is a very, very inefficient way of getting to the top. Is it easier to trick people into paying you ... or to give them so much that they'll pay you with a smile on, then tell all their friends?
Yes, it can happen. But you wind up being an insecure douche who probably won't make it to the top ... and even if he does, he realizes that he's lonely and sad with a room full of gold chairs. Not that I've been reading the news, or anything.
Of course, there's one obstacle. Gaining enough knowledge and skill and tact to be able to deliver that value. I'm working on it. It's a lifelong thing.
