One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to
the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live.
They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be
considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the
father asked his son, “How was the trip?”
“It was great, Dad.”
“Did you see how poor people live?” the father asked.
“Oh yeah,” said the son.
So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father.
The son answered: “I saw that we have one dog and they had four.
We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.
We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.
Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.
We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.
We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.
We buy our food, but they grow theirs…
We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.”
The boy’s father was speechless.
Then his son added, “Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are.”
Brian, there is definitely some truth to this.
This story reminds me of how I felt on my mission in Brazil. The people in many instances were so incredibly poor as it relates to material things, but so rich in spiritual matters. Poverty, it would seem, often has an inverse relationship when it comes to material and spiritual things.
Now this isn’t to say that you are poor for living in a city compared to living on a farm. There are, of course, trade offs when you live in either location, and, as the story portrays, the idea of what is “poor” or “rich” is really relative to what you seek in life. Maybe that boy had never really experienced the wonders of the outdoors. Maybe his dad never took him hiking in the mountains, climbing to the tops to really see an expansive land. Maybe that was the first time he was ever out of the city. Well, no wonder he felt poor.
Dan, to me, the message is that money can’t buy happiness.
This reminds me of some highly-sentimental emails that get sent around from time to time.
I swear there are some weirdos out there who love making this stuff up.
Having been scathingly critical, I’ll turn back around and just add that I’ve read some articles about the temptations, sins and personal disasters that have befallen lottery winners. They celebrated initially but in retrospect at least some of them say they would do anything to return to the lives they had before the influx of card hold cash ripped their families apart.
Wealth really _can_ be a curse. I’m probably as susceptible as others to the idea that large sums of money would solve all kinds of problems or irritations in life … but from what I’ve observed, money and wealth really can destroy people.
Danithew, my wife and I often discuss what we would do if we won the lottery. It’s a wonderful fantasy, to be sure.
I don’t have the information in front of me, but a lot of people who win the lottery end up bankrupt.
As for being scathingly critical, I didn’t take your comment as such. I know the story is highly sentimental, but I think the moral of the story rings true.
We’re talking in very relative terms here. True, money can’t buy happiness, but if used wisely can make life a lot less stressful and can help create an environment that breeds happiness.
As to the outdoors thing, where I live if you want an endless creek and land to grow your own food, you’ll have to go into debt up to your eyeballs to do it. In Salt Lake, it’s the poor people that live in the city. The rich people live up in the ranches and farms.
Perhaps money is a curse. I’d like to find out.
Point taken about spiritual wealth though. I’ve never met more humble and powerful members of the church than on my mission in third world Ukraine. Amazing people.
Tossman, through one of those accidents of life, I have known many, many rich people. The money has not made any of them happy, and in most cases it has made them more unhappy. I could tell you so many stories about good, honest people who have been ruined by money. The happy rich people are the kinds who would be happy with or without money.
Having said that, I would still like a 10 percent raise. 🙂
Tossman’s comments remind me of Hugh B. Brown’s talk about the time that he was called as a General Authority. He was in the oil business up in Alberta, and he expected that he was going to become a millionaire.
“It appeared that nothing could save me from becoming a millionaire. And I didn’t want to be saved!”
And now for something completely different: Back in the good old days the Ukrainian SSR was part of the second world, I suppose. Now that there isn’t that second world anymore, why do we still talk about the third world? Are the former republics of the USSR the second world? Does anybody care? 🙂
I can’t help but think of what Tevye says in Fiddler on the Roof, after he’s told that money is the world’s curse: “May God strike me with it! And may I never recover!”
Thanks for this perspective.
As BYU students, we used to say, “Money may not buy happiness but our experience has been that poverty doesn’t bring much either.”
My favorite on this is,
16 O that he would rid you from this iniquity and abomination. And, O that ye would listen unto the word of his commands, and let not this pride of your hearts destroy your souls!
17 Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you.
18 But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God.
19 And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.
— Jacob 2:16-19
Note the similarities with this counsel about $$$ and D&C 121’s guidance on priesthood power. Money and priesthood are two kind of power and the test is how we use whatever power(s) we have — selfishly or to bless others.
I thought the same thing as Daniel and I was thinking, “what can I say that’s positive about this hokey story?”
There’s “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. Rich is better.” But that’s sort of hokey as well.
I’ve been reading about the Kennedys and I have a rich friend and her family is so messed up. And I know some “poor” families who really have it together. It’s relative, yeah.
But I know a lot of people who would be happier with enough money to pay their bills. That’s in America.
I just heard a little blurb on the radio from financial talk show host Dave Ramsey that really rang true. He said (paraphrasing) that money doesn’t change a person. What it doe is accentuate your true personality traits. If you are a jerk, wealth will make you a colossal jerk. If you are generous, wealth will make you extremely generous. If wealth becomes a curse it’s because it’s accentuating personality and behavioral traits you already had.
I tend to agree. Cars don’t kill people- people driving cars kill people. Wealth is not a curse. Our behavior in relationship to it can be.
Why do we tend to focus on the thing (money) and ignore human behavior?