“The only people who claim that money is not important are people who have enough money so that they are relieved of the ugly burden of thinking about it.”—Joyce Carol Oates
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A representative from a distinguished academic organization approached Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz, a Swiss-American biologist and geologist esteemed for his groundbreaking contributions to the understanding of Earth’s natural history, with an invitation to speak to its members. Agassiz declined, citing that such lectures consumed valuable time that he preferred to allocate to his research and writing endeavors.
The representative continued to advocate for the invitation, indicating that they were willing to offer a substantial fee for his presentation. “That does not motivate me in the slightest,” Agassiz responded. “I cannot afford to squander my time in pursuit of financial gain.”
That brings us to a particular scene in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. “As much money and life as you could want!” wrote J.K. Rowling, author of the novel. “The two things most human beings would choose above all – the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them.”
Dorothy Parker also said: “If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.” And what did Will Rogers say? “Too many people,” he pointed out, “spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.”
Money, as Wikipedia defines it, “is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context.”
There are four functions of money: a medium of exchange, a unit of account, a store of value and sometimes, a standard of deferred payment. Any item or verifiable record that fulfills these four functions can be considered as money.
Money comes in different forms and different stages. Workers earn it while spendthrifts burn it. Bankers lend it. Women spend it. Forgers fake it. Taxes take it. Dying leave it as heirs receive it. Thrifty saves it and misers crave it. Rich increases it while gamblers losses it.
Matthew J. Ritchie shares this story: There were some Mexican Indians on their way to market with pottery. Some wealthy tourists stopped them on the way and offered to buy their entire stock for a good price.
The Indians refused and explained, “Señora, in my town no one can read and write; there is no electricity, so there can be no radios. Some must go to the city every week to get the news of the world, and without pottery we cannot get a place in the market to sell. So, we cannot sell you all the pottery jars, for they are a means to our end. Señora, we would be disgraced if we returned home without money.”
Money isn’t everything. It’s not how you spend your money but how you use it. I was reminded of the words of Frank C. Clark. “Many folks think they aren’t good at earning money,” he said, “when what they don’t know is how to use it.”
When they have money, some people spend it all as if there is no tomorrow. That should not be the case. Take care of your money and it will take care of you. Aristotle was damned right: “Money is a guarantee that we may have what we want in the future. Though we need nothing at the moment, it ensures the possibility of satisfying a new desire when it arises.”
When it comes to life, William A. Ward gives this advice: “Before you speak, listen. Before you write, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you invest, investigate. Before you criticize, wait. Before you pray, forgive. Before you quit, try. Before you retire, save. Before you die, give.”
Ward’s statement seems to jibe with the words of British statesman Sir Winston Churchill: “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
At the end of the day, you can’t take money with you. Let money be your slave instead of being your master. I was reminded of the story shared by James A. Feehan:
There was this businessman whose only interest in life was to play the stock market. He studied the financial pages of the newspapers greedily every day. He became so obsessed with finances that one day he said aloud to himself: “I would give anything to see the paper one year from now.”
No sooner were the words in his mouth, than there was a puff of smoke in the room and a little genie handed him a newspaper and then disappeared. As soon as he got over this shock, he realized that his wish had been granted. The paper in his hand was dated for next year. Feverishly, he found the financial page and then his eyes bulged when he saw how the market had developed. He wrote down the stocks that had jumped highest and won the most money in that time.
He got into his car and went down to his stockbroker with this latest information. He took the newspaper along and was browsing through it before he started off. Then suddenly he noticed his name in the death column. It described the cause of his death and the funeral arrangements.
“Make money your god, and it will plague you like the devil,” Henry Fielding once reminded.
By the way, money is not the root of all evil; it’s the love of it. As the Bible puts it: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Timothy 6:10).
