What If Money Didn't Matter?

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It's a great thought, what if money didn't matter?  Wow, we could all run around the world doing whatever our little heart desired, no stress, no responsibilities.  We could live forever with all of that off our plate.  It's a great fantasy to only do what we are passionate about, do only what gives us life and care not a whit for the rest.

Only life doesn't work that way.  Money DOES matter and what about the vitally important things NO ONE is passionate about?  Who is passionate about changing baby diapers?  The one or two strange people who might be would probably change their minds once all the diaper changing opportunities were dumped (pun intended) upon them.

I am not saying that it is required that you be miserable in order to make money.  But the thought that you can live without some kind of hard work or have to do things that you don't like doing at times is irresponsible and immature.  We all have to to do things we don't like in order for life to actually work.

The thought that money doesn't matter sounds so noble, so selfless, so un-materialistic.  The truth of the matter is, it is anything but those things.  Really, think about it.

The fact that you may not be motivated by money means that you depend on others who are.  As much as we would like to think we could live only on air and good intentions, the nasty truth of the matter is, we can't.  We need food too.  Oh, and water.  Oh, and a place to sleep.  Oh, and some light.  Oh, and some heat.  Oh, and enough money to pay our Obamacare Affordable Care Act Insurance premiums which used to cost $0 if you didn't want any but now that's illegal.  Oh, and you get the idea.  The truth of the matter is all of that oh, stuff COSTS MONEY!  Someone's money.  Even if you feel like you want to live like money doesn't matter, you no doubt are depending on someone who does think it matters.  They are subsidizing you in some way.  Your parents are either enabling your extended childhood by paying the tab on your inconsiderate pasty white tail, or your friends are coughing up enough to donate to you to keep your selfish hide afloat or the American tax payer is.  It cannot be denied that SOMEONE must do the work and get paid so that they can fund your lazy self to do little to nothing.  So, living like money doesn't matter is not noble.

Neither is living like money doesn't matter selfless.  It is in fact incredibly selfish.  When you are only focused on doing enough to meet your own needs, no matter how meager you think they may be, you aren't even thinking on how you might help others who are in need.  It isn't even on your radar screen.  What? Think about being generous?  I know, that only applies to you.  You want others who do think money matters to be generous towards you.  You never stopped being selfish long enough to think how you might be generous towards others.  When you only want to beg from others or work only enough to meet your own needs, it precludes how you might help others with the necessary things of life.  No, that thought never enters your mind because you are intrinsically selfish.

Sure, we would all like to run all over creation with only our backpacks and a camera thinking we are doing something of value.  The real truth?  You are hiding in plain sight justifying your not wanting to grow up and face the music of life and contribute towards really making the world a better place for everyone, not just yourself.

I know the kind of eye roll mentioning the subject of retirement will get from the "free spirit" crowd.  But let me ask the question anyway.  What are you going to do when your benefactors who care about money and are subsidizing your selfish hyde die?  What are you going to do when you are too old to run around with your camera and backpack?  Really, what is your plan?  I know savings accounts and retirement investments and the like are so boring,  but one day they won't be, trust me.  One day, you will wish you had some of that boring stuff.  Some day, you actually might want to have a place to live and food to eat and enough money to pay for your Affordable Care Act Obamacare healthcare plan.  But you won't and it will be too late and you will have to mooch off others to live some kind of minimal life.  Good luck to you.

Isn't it more selfless to think of others instead of yourself?  Why not GET A REAL JOB doing something that MAKES MONEY so you can actually be a generous person and help others?  Why not make A LOT OF MONEY to help a lot of people?  Just because you make a lot of money does not mean you have to live like a conceited idiot.  You can actually make a lot of money and live a simple life while having the means to help a lot of other people who have legitimate needs.  You want to really be noble?  Think about giving up your selfish extended childhood-adult-life running around doing nothing of real value and go to work making money so you can be a part of the solution of helping others instead of leaving the responsibility to real adults who give back and make the world a much better place.

Do you really want to live an un-materialistic life?  Then make a ton of money and give it away to others in need keeping only enough for yourself to live and not have to mooch off of others.  That is living a true un-materialistic life.  Just living a minimal life by being a burden to others is what is known as being LAZY, it is not being un-materialistic.

So, if no one has ever had this little talk with you about life, you can thank me.  It's the truth.  Some day, you will care and hopefully it won't be too late.  You unfortunately can't be a child your whole life.  It is well neigh time to come of age, get a job, put away the backpack and camera until your days off, make your own way in life and think of someone besides yourself.  It might be like having pizza for the first time when you were age 3.  It looks like you won't like it, but you might actually love it.  Work doesn't have to be the end of our lives.

If you can think deeply for longer than a minute, ponder this deep thought, "What if everyone lived exactly the way I do?"  Would life work?  Where would the money come from?  How would the work get done?  Who would collect the garbage?  Who would make sure the sewer systems functioned?  Who would do the dirty work?  Ponder that deeply while you skip through the fields of daisies capturing digital images.

You'll thank me later.  Really.