I Want to be Rich – Does That Make Me a Bad Person?

I don’t like rich people.    There is a stigma around rich people.   They are arrogant, selfish, and shallow.  Rich people think of themselves as better than the rest of  us.  We see them on television, whining that their caviar doesn’t taste quite right, or that their $500 jeans aren’t the right shade of blue to match their car.   Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of really nice rich people out there.  I even know some and consider them friends.  On the whole though, I’ve never been attracted to the rich and famous  (because doesn’t  one come with the other in a chicken-and-the-egg type  cycle?).   No matter how much I try to tell myself and others that I’m not in it for the money, and I don’t need to be rich, I know deep down that I’m lying.  I want to be rich.

I don’t expect money to make me happy

Only I can make myself happy, and I know that.  I also know that a lack of money adds a whole lot of stress to my life that I would definitely be happier without.   Luxury isn’t what I want, really.  It isn’t extravagance or indulgence, although some would call anything over a basic need an indulgence, I suppose.  It is human nature to always want more than what we have.  If it weren’t, we wouldn’t have crime or wars.  We are programmed to never be satisfied with what we have.  I recently read a question asking if it were possible to be satisfied with being dissatisfied.  I think it is.  On the same score, I am dissatisfied with being satisfied.  I want more.

Being rich isn’t about being happy.  I am happy.  Like so many of you, I can say with full conviction that I have my health and my family, therefore I am blessed.  I am blessed.  Truly.  But I am also human, and I want more.  I want to be able to come home to a house that is my own, on land that is my own.  I want to drive cars that I own, not ones that I’m still paying the bank for.  My kids should have their own bedrooms that they don’t have to share with their siblings.  We should be able to buy a new mattress when the one we have has collapsed.   My son shouldn’t have to use a phone with a cracked screen and wear eyeglasses that are super-glued together because he doesn’t want to ask me to buy new ones.

I want to be rich

I want my kids to learn money management, budgeting, and financial responsibility.  They won’t learn that if I give them everything they could ever want.  But on the other hand, I can’t teach them that when there is no money to budget with.  They can’t learn to be financially responsible without finances to be responsible for.  How can I  show them the value of working for money if I can’t even pay them for the work that they do?

More importantly, I want to teach my kids about sharing and helping those less fortunate than us.  I’m the kind of person that likes to put my change into the tip jar at the coffee shop.  When the homeless woman is sitting on the side of the road with her sign asking for help, I want to hop out and hand her some money or offer to buy her a meal.  At the fundraiser auctions, I want to raise my paddle and spend more money than something is worth on things I don’t really need, simply because it’s for a good cause.

Please don’t judge me

I know that there are other ways to show my kids compassion.  Certainly there are other things I can give that don’t require money.   That isn’t my point.  I don’t see money as the answer to everything.  Society is what it is though, and you can’t argue that often the people who are able to make the biggest differences are the ones who have money.

I want to be able to come across good people in tough situations and hand them a handsome check to help them get back on track like Ellen DeGeneres does.   Habitat for Humanity works hard to build homes for families, but there are so many more families than homes.  Every time I see a foreclosure listing on Zillow, where I regularly indulge my dream of some day owning my own home, my heart breaks.  How many families lose their homes because of a rough patch in the workforce or some unfortunate circumstance that blindsided them?  My dream is to find a way to help people.  First, I need to be rich.

Enough is not enough

Perhaps I am the one being arrogant and selfish.  It may be so.  In my mind and heart however, I have honorable intentions.  I would like to think that means I am not a bad person.  I’m not looking for a free ride.  I am willing to work for my reward.  My novel is just waiting to be discovered, published, and made into a major motion picture.  I read every day, write every day, watch webinars and take every online course I can get into without a huge financial outlay.

My quest is to find the path to riches that is not paved in blood.  I am sure that it must be out there.  The ends do not always justify the means, so my options are limited.  Where there is a will, there is a way, though, and I will find my way.  How many of you will be honest with yourselves?  Are you satisfied with being dissatisfied?  Or do you also want to be rich?

Let me tell you a secret – it doesn’t make you a bad person.