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
|