Money & Value

Value - desirability, worth, merit, importance
Money - a medium of exchange that functions as legal tender.

Does the developed world put too much value on money as a measure of real value?

We actually publish Rich Lists. There are numerous TV documentaries about how the rich spend their money - often quite obscenely & tastelessly. Magazines are full of the lives of the rich and supposedly famous. It is the raison d'etre of Hello & OK magazines & others like them. We actually have A, B & C lists of the rich & famous. Enormous numbers of people buy lottery tickets hoping to win ridiculous amounts of money which will change their lives, but often not for the better.

People aspire to have their 15 minutes of fame. They think that if they are rich money will solve their problems & their lives will be enriched.

We are who we are. We carry our past, our personality, our problems with us. We carry our strengths & our weaknesses. The real value is in facing our personal demons & really living the lives we have. Facing every day, living it to the full, trying to be the best we can be.

Some of us are blessed & lucky. Others are not. The lottery of adversity & bad luck can touch anyone at any time. There are some things beyond our control.

If we each live in our own bubble selfishly & don't share our good luck and good fortune we are diminished and isolated. If all the rich do is gratify their own desires, however extreme, the world is a poorer place.

No one is more important or worth more than anyone else. The only way our civilisation will survive is if we all really share the all the blessings. There has to be some measure of equality of opportunity. Not a self perpetuating hierarchy of good fortune.