In a world ruled by wealth and power, man is yet a slave to his desires. At a very young age, children become brain washed to crave for money. They are taught about the materialistic world and how without it their lives would be meaningless. Man is under the delusion that until or unless he earns money, he is useless. Money has become our basic standard for measuring the worth of people in the society. While, poverty is looked at as if it were a plague in society. The poor are thus stereotyped as useless and unwanted citizens of the state.
It was wisely said by Will Self:
“Wealth is a form of power in our society. With great power comes great responsibility. If you have too much wealth, ipso facto, you have too much power – therefore you have too much responsibility – and you are a kind of dictator.”
Earning money for a living is not a sin. It is actually highly recommended. Man should and must work hard to earn money. Keeping in mind that the money he gains are earned from his own effort and by right means. He is not forbidden from doing so. Rather it is his basic right as a human being to work hard and earn for himself. But maintaining a balance in life is a troubling task indeed. One cannot go on without it as it is a necessary part of life.
Philip Slater exclaimed about wealth making man unhappy:
“One of the main reasons wealth makes people unhappy is that it gives them too much control over what they experience. They try to translate their own fantasies into reality instead of tasting what reality itself has to offer”.
Earning too much money does not mean that it is an immoral or unethical act. But it is better to keep a check and balance on the earned wealth. If after gaining great amount of riches, man does not share it with the poor and the destitute then earning such kind of wealth is worthless. For it ends up turning man into a lump of flesh embedded with high dose of pride, ego and selfishness. In other words, it creates a monster that does not care about what happens to the people around him, he only cares about himself. Wealth is indeed the power of today, whomsoever possess it possess the power to rule and influence others.
People like Fanny Burney exist:
“Wealth per se I never too much valued, and my acquaintance with its possessors has by no means increased my veneration for it.”
Too much wealth will give you big houses, big shiny branded cars, servants who would respect you, and generally your worth in society would be great. Money has a great impact especially on the people of today. The impact is so great that you can even go buying people. Money is the power of now, the one who owns it has the power. But earning it is generally not a bad thing. It is the way you earn it, while being careful not to overindulge in it.
In the end one must not let their desires get the best of them. There should always be balance in one’s life. Indulging in worldly pleasure only leads one to deception. The illusions produced by wealth should be feared for it is the weapon that can break or make a man. Wealth is a materialistic lust of being better than others. It is a desire that needs to be channelized properly or else it would only destroy a person.
Maurice Saatachi was recorded of saying:
“America’s critics can be heard everywhere. It is too much love with money – worshipping the god of the marketplace, the golden calf. It has too much money, seven of the top 10 banks, eight of the top 10 companies etc. It is too stingy, giving away less of its wealth than other countries. It is vulgar, a rich barbarian”.
