Greed and hypocrisy are inherent in our world. Sibling rivalry, competition between brothers and sisters is a concern for many parents. Likewise, selfish expectations of children from their parents and vise versa, give rise to misunderstanding, self-centered sentiment and unreasonable attitude towards each other.

Have you heard of the over-used quote, “No Money, No Talk”? It’s a Cantonese slang which means, "I will not talk to you if there is no money."  Sure, you do! It has been used by many to demand and extract compliance, loyalty and attention for personal gain and other egotistical reasons.

The most pitiful poverty is that of man who has more than he needs but feels he doesn't have enough.

In our daily lives, particularly in the business world, the quote is even truer if the words were switched around, “No talk, No money”. If we do not build relationships with people and follow up on them, we would be moving slowly away on a course that will never result satisfactorily to us.

Sometimes life has many ways of challenging our faith and testing our endurance. As the story goes, there was man past retirement age while his wife is still working as a high-ranking professional in a big company.

Over the years, his wife had belittled him because she earned much more than he did. She would actually talk behind his back and denigrate him among her friends and their relatives, telling them that she is the only breadwinner who makes a real impact in their family.

She would even talk big about coming from a well-to-do family. By doing so she got their children and relatives to take her side. They never respected him, avoided him for fear of admonition from her and this went on for years.

Since she controls his monthly expense, this man is in a tough situation. He had asked for divorce many times as he could no longer tolerate the situation but the wife refused. She worried that the assets that they jointly owned would be divided.

This man is in miserable and in pitiful situation. He cannot connect the dots looking forward; but he can only connect them looking backwards. He has to trust the Higher Power that the dots will somehow connect in his future. He has to trust in something: his gut, destiny, life, and karma, whatever. This approach has never let many down, and it has made all the difference in their lives.

I know of similar stories of people who had been victimized by spousal undue influence, abuses, greed, control, betrayals and unrealistic vengeance to cover up something. The good news is, I have learned that when we believe and have faith; when we remain decent and stick to what is good, what is true, what is honest and what is real, we always prevail at the end. It is true that karma, really happens, my friends.

As we already know, money is no harm, but it is the love of money and power; the inability to give them up and/or to desperately acquire more, is what makes life miserable to some of us. Some of us even resort to gambling, only to end up needing and wanting more. Life is tragic for those who have plenty to live on, want more and end up nothing to live for.

Time and money are the heaviest burden of life, and the unhappiest of all mortals are those who have more of either than they know how to use. -Samuel Johnson

However, despite what Jesus said that money is the root of all kinds of evil, it is hard to ignore that with money, we can claim control and gain respect. In addition, we can buy many things that make us feel good and important, with money. But, is it ultimately what would make us happy?

These days, in our materialistic culture, many people are led to believe that money is the ultimate source of superiority and happiness. Consequently, when they don’t have enough of it, they feel let down and try hard to acquire unreasonably more.

Wealth does not assure us of real peace and happiness in life. A poor person with good relationships is much more likely to be happier than a rich person with lousy relationships with people around him.

It is sad, but we have to remember the reality that in many cases, "No money, No talk" is the attitude of those who have selfish motive, self-seeking expectations and egotistic sentiments; that no money means: no honey, no children, no relatives, no in-laws, no holidays, no wine, no friends, no social life, no phone calls, no email, no ……. (I’m sure you can add more…)!


 By Tim Pedrosa


To possess money is very well; it may be a most valuable servant; to be possessed by it is to be possessed by a devil, and one of the meanest and worst kind of devils.

 

Tim