Do you really want money?

Doesn't everyone want money? We work hard to earn better wages, so we can buy better things. And when you have better things, your life becomes better. That's written clearly in the handbook of life: make money-buy things-be happy. But is that really all there is to it? There are really lucky (unlucky?) people who's lives are turned upside down because they: won a lottery, found a HUGE diamond, got a hand that turns things into gold. These people were suddenly granted their greatest desires, money. They became millionaires, trillionaires, and gajillionaires. And not one of them found happiness. It's a well known fact that lottery winners live terrible lives. They lose their friends, file for divorces, get murdered, suicide, all kinds of undesirable outcomes. In The Diamond as big as the Ritz, the Washington family is quite well-off since they're ancestor found a diamond as big as the Ritz. In the end of the story however, 3/5ths of the family goes poof and becomes ash while the other 2/5ths are condemned to a life of poverty. Certainly undesirable. Everyone knows the story of King Midas, he who turns things to gold with his touch. He accidental touched his daughter and she turned to gold. In a way, she lives forever but not "really" alive. Also undesirable. Through these three examples, the negative effects of money can be seen. The question remains, do you really want money?

What is 100,000?

What is 100,000? It's just a number composed of 5 circles, a line, and a comma. But what does it really represent? The population of Ann Arbor is around 100,000, it's more than three times the height of Mt.Everest, weather balloons start to explode around 100,000 feet in the sky. 100,000 is a really BIG number. Yet the population of Ann Arbor doesn't astonish me, 3 times the height of Mt.Everest doesn't really overwhelm me with awe, and a weather balloon exploding in the sky certainly doesn't incite a sense of wonder. As humans, we've lost our "number sense". Large numbers are no longer special because our world has expanded so much. We're no longer cramped in town or city we lie in, we can experience the whole world. This expanded worldview has lead to incredible innovations and discoveries, but it has also lessened our sense of wonder.

Many writers have written books that warn humanity of a coming crisis or mock societies current direction. Fitzgerald mocks the rampant materialism of the 1920s in The Great Gatsby. Orwell allegorically ridicules the Soviet Union in Animal Farm. Huxley warns us of the dangers that rapid advances in technology can cause in A Brave New World. Golding highlights the inherent savage nature of humans and the negative impacts of war in Lord of the Flies. Many great writers have written even greater books detailing the troubles within society. Yet no one has even mentioned how humans have been desensitized to magnitude and size.

Tales from the North

Two strangers met in a bar. One from Chile and one from Colombia. As all bar talk tends to do, their conversation turned towards their lives at home. The Chilean man spoke of cold summer days spent toiling in the fields and even colder winter nights spent huddling in a hut.
    "Ah, how warm it must be in Colombia. With all the full bosomed women, it must be paraíso."
The Colombian shook his head.
    "Colombia is no paraíso. I'd give an arm and a leg to live like you do. But alas, a wife and baby need supporting and there's only one way to do that in the North. Drugs and cartels."
The infamous couple, known to many yet understood by few. Lives are harvested by the cartels which in turn are used to make and transport the drugs. A vicious cycle ravaging Central America.
    "Perhaps Colombia is not for me," the Chilean muttered.
    "Sí," the Colombian chuckled.
And they grew silent, these two men. Each lost in his own drink, pondering the situation of the other. 


It's the start of the 20th century and racial tensions are running high. A young black accountant heads South for a business trip. It's his first time down there and he's heard all kinds of things on the news. He takes a Greyhound cause, well, he ain't rich and a Greyhound is cheaper than a plane. It's gotta be quite unnerving getting on a bus full of white people so he finds a familiar face to sit beside. Not familiar like two friends would be, familiar like when two black sheep meet in a field of white sheep. Charlie (the other guy's name) was visiting his niece who got into some kind of "smart person" school.
    "So, what's an accountant doing in the South?"
    "A textile company needs their auditing done and I was the only person free at the office."
    "Must not have been your lucky day."
    "How so? I've heard on the news that blacks are finally getting to own property."
    "I don't know what you've been listening to sonny, but life ain't swell in the South if your skin's too dark. I'd reckon that 1000 of our folk gets lynched every year. If you was thinking of getting some sightseeing done, I'd forget that. Do your job and get out."
    "Really? So the South ain't like the North? I've always thought the South would feel like home. After all, it's where my mother and my father were born."
    "Didn't they tell you anything, boy? The South is where all the old money is at. They don't take any guff from your politicians, as such, none of the Northern laws regarding blacks have reached the South so life is basically the same as when slavery was a thing."
    "Ah, I see." The accountant was skeptical of the stories his friends told him but Charlie's story, from a real Southern black, was the last straw.




I was going to write more stories but I ran outa time.