I dont want your money
Posted Oct 1st, 2009 at 02:51 PM by ravage
The whole point of wisdom is to apply it on yourself. Not spout off casual, dispassionate cerebral arguments concerning the feelings of others. I reflect on the various crises of my life.. if such everyday situations merit that description.. and think of how awfully I behaved. You think never again, but then at this moment you might be doing 'never again' things with your life. I certainly am.
Well never again then. Not now atleast.
The other day I was dining with friends, some of whom are mulling a return to Pakistan in the near future. And the only variable for them, was the difference in money you'd make. Nothing else. No attempt to mask that motivation either. Now this is probably coloured by the fact that I dont make much right now, and bigger paychecks have a way of working themselves close to your heart, but I find it alienating. And it isnt about money really. It is about recognition as being a success. This is just how people get accepted as successful in our society.
Far be it for me to rail against capitalism, but I think as a philosophy, this is what we have taken from capitalism. Not the fact that economic freedom is a means to avoid a totalitarian state that controls means of production with one hand and thought with the other. No, we take from it the idea that if you are a success as a person you have money.
If there is a barometer of success, from my perspective, it is dignity. The dignity of being good at what you do, the best person you can be, without needing that validated through a paycheck or weekly mentions in newspapers or academic journals, or polite society. What I would love twenty years from now is to be working away in the field of my choice, living a life that may be obscure but has dignity. I would hate to be motivated by recognition or money. The only motivation I value, at the moment atleast, is self-respect.
Well never again then. Not now atleast.
The other day I was dining with friends, some of whom are mulling a return to Pakistan in the near future. And the only variable for them, was the difference in money you'd make. Nothing else. No attempt to mask that motivation either. Now this is probably coloured by the fact that I dont make much right now, and bigger paychecks have a way of working themselves close to your heart, but I find it alienating. And it isnt about money really. It is about recognition as being a success. This is just how people get accepted as successful in our society.
Far be it for me to rail against capitalism, but I think as a philosophy, this is what we have taken from capitalism. Not the fact that economic freedom is a means to avoid a totalitarian state that controls means of production with one hand and thought with the other. No, we take from it the idea that if you are a success as a person you have money.
If there is a barometer of success, from my perspective, it is dignity. The dignity of being good at what you do, the best person you can be, without needing that validated through a paycheck or weekly mentions in newspapers or academic journals, or polite society. What I would love twenty years from now is to be working away in the field of my choice, living a life that may be obscure but has dignity. I would hate to be motivated by recognition or money. The only motivation I value, at the moment atleast, is self-respect.
Total Comments 6
Comments
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Nailed it. Screw the money. Be content in who you/I are and not what you/I have.Posted Oct 1st, 2009 at 02:57 PM by ahmadjee
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take the money. buy urself a nice coat.Posted Oct 1st, 2009 at 03:23 PM by hitchki
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btw. i live in bethnal green and u dont even ask if im alive. dont buy a coat. go back to pakistan and live in a dustbinPosted Oct 1st, 2009 at 03:25 PM by hitchki
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u lived in northamptomshire last i heard. when would i know if ur back.
watching the game on saturday?
and why a coat? i have more than 3
AJ: thanks. somehow i took longer to say that though :/Posted Oct 1st, 2009 at 05:56 PM by ravage
Updated Oct 1st, 2009 at 06:04 PM by ravage -
more than three and not quite four implies that you have some fraction of a coat.Posted Oct 2nd, 2009 at 08:21 PM by hitchki
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dare I say... "Right on the money"
- success won at the cost of self-respect is not success at all.Posted Oct 8th, 2009 at 08:46 PM by Lucid Chaotic
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