So, I was talking to my mother-in-law the other day about how great it would be to win the lottery. She of course said that she would buy all the usual things that the poor dream that wealth will bring them. Then, I replied that I would pay all my bills and give the rest to charity.
She told me she thought I was crazy.
The truth is that I consider myself wealthy. I have good, healthy children. I have lived long enough to see my grandchildren. I am going to school and doing what I want to in life. Money would only complicate those things. I fear that I would have all manner of people come out of the woodwork asking for things. I would see people that normally wouldn't give me the time of day being nice to me. In time, I would wonder if anyone is genuine.
At least now I know that the friends in my life are here because they enjoy my company, instead of what I can give them.
But, I won't go into the fair weather friends speech again. Everyone knows how I feel about that.
On this topic, I found this article today...
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Money Can't Buy Happiness, So Man Gives Away Every Penny of His £3 Million Fortune
By Alex in Money & Finance on Feb 10, 2010 at 2:05 am
Karl Rabeder grew up poor and thought that life would be wonderful if he had money. But when he got rich, Karl discovered that he was unhappy … so he decided to give away every penny of his £3 million fortune:
"My idea is to have nothing left. Absolutely nothing," he told The Daily Telegraph. "Money is counterproductive – it prevents happiness to come."
Instead, he will move out of his luxury Alpine retreat into a small wooden hut in the mountains or a simple bedsit in Innsbruck.
His entire proceeds are going to charities he set up in Central and Latin America, but he will not even take a salary from these.
"For a long time I believed that more wealth and luxury automatically meant more happiness," he said. "I come from a very poor family where the rules were to work more to achieve more material things, and I applied this for many years," said Mr Rabeder.
But over time, he had another, conflicting feeling.
"More and more I heard the words: ‘Stop what you are doing now – all this luxury and consumerism – and start your real life’," he said. "I had the feeling I was working as a slave for things that I did not wish for or need. I have the feeling that there are lot of people doing the same thing."
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hahaha!! Then again maybe I do want to become rich so that I can do the same thing as Mr Rabeder and watch every ones jaw hit the floor. Kudos to you Karl, you are my hero of the month.
