Money, Money, Money

Communist James versus Money

I mentioned my cup of tea with communism on Sunday. It drifted into a long-term affair with socialism before dying off. This left me with a bit of struggle with how I feel about money. It is still difficult for me to put things in terms of money. I feel vaguely guilty when I do.

 I dislike a lot of what I learn about online marketing and sales because people expect others to purchase their product before there is any relationship. They often turn into people who turn every relationship they have into a potential customer. This is one of the reasons I avoid people who are caught up in the mid-level-marketing thing.

I also resent people trying to push a product that doesn’t offer any value. There are a lot of get-rich-quick schemes out there, and I’ve never wanted to take part in them. I think I would prefer to give stuff away for free than try to sell something of low value, and I never want to price anyone out of anything. It’s all much easier before money gets involved.

Everything Takes Money

Here’s the thing though: without money, you can’t do anything or help anyone in any real way. I don’t want to have money for conspicuous consumption. I want to have enough to take care of my family. I want to be free from this modern-living-lie. I want to be able to help other people with cool things they are creating. I would like to be able to help people in need concretely, and in a way that could have a lasting impact instead of putting a Band-Aid on the problem. It takes money to do this. 

I have come to believe that there is a difference between allowing money to have a place and a purpose and being caught up in having it for the sake of having it. There’s a difference between working for it and wanting to figure out how to make it work for you. I think that as long as the project you want to put it to work on is a good one, there is nothing wrong in trying to do that.

I don’t know that I would ever want to be extremely wealthy. Many of the richest people I know are also the unhappiest, but I also know I want to get above the soul-killing effects of debt and skimping by. I also know I want to help other people do the same. I believe we are probably in for some tough times in the future and I want to be able to be useful then as well.

I am pretty okay with these goals, even if Communist James is crying somewhere.