In college,
I majored in economics. For a lover of
words and the literary arts, this seems an unlikely move. I made the choice for several reasons. One, because it was the ‘80s; two, as someone
with five planets in Capricorn, practicality was big on my radar.
The third
reason, however, was the most compelling.
I knew even back then that money drives much of human behavior and the
events of our world. I wanted to
understand this dynamic more deeply, and I thought a greater focus on studying
econ would facilitate that.
Well, it
sorta did, and it didn’t. What I did
take away from delving into the very dry and theoretical world of econ (except
for the class on the economics of the Plague) was the awareness that because we
live in a capitalist society, when looking at any societal dynamic, to always
“follow the money.” In other words, to
look for and at the economic driver of anything because there usually is
one.
Cynical? No.
Realistic? Yes.
Yet as I
moved on in life and life became much less theoretical, I came to see and
experience the complexity, paradox, and challenge that is money. The human relationship with money does not
correlate so cleanly on an X-Y axis.
I wandered
far off “the grid” that is theory and entered a whole new world of sticky,
angst-ridden, real-world inquiry about money.
Here is some of what I’ve gleaned.
1. We are each of us born with different
spoons in our mouths – silver, wooden, metal – and many with no spoon at
all. If we are to live in a world that
values the dignity of all people, it is vital for the “haves” to remember that
they had help and whatever financial security they have attained was not solely
of their own making.
2. Money is energy. Flowing healthfully, the system within which
it circulates is balanced. When energy
is overstored, it leads to imbalance, a “fattening.” Unregulated capitalism has
wrought severe imbalance in our society.
An obese few hoard at the expense of a malnourished many. Properly stored energy is healthy. Overstored energy is not.
3. In this society, value is assigned to
people based on how much money they make or generate. A thriving society requires goods and
services of all types. Innovation, service,
creativity, social good, and productivity are all facets of a vibrant economy
and, in my view, should be valued with more parity and dignity.
4. Let us expand our consciousness and
realize that there is far more to an economy than money. Buying and selling is only one form of
transaction. There is also sharing,
borrowing, gifting, bartering, re-using, and volunteering. The worthy challenge is to embrace and
encourage the integration of all of these transactions and exchanges into our
economy.
5. We assign price to that which is
priceless. With less and less social
oversight by dysfunctional and compromised governing centers at all levels,
capitalism has reduced virtue to a commodity and relegated the cornerstones of
human welfare (i.e. health and education) to a callused and rigged marketplace.
Not only are more and more people being rendered precipitously vulnerable
by our economic system, but we are incentivized to concern ourselves only with
ourselves at the expense of the welfare of the collective.
The time is now to deeply and consciously discern what, as human beings
and as the human race, we want and need and to take personal and collective
action toward making new choices involving money.
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