But it is the
definitions of rich and wealth in the
materialistic sense that interest me. One hundred people gathered together in
one room might not be able to come up with a working definition of ‘rich’ or ‘wealth’.
Some people will define ‘rich’ or ‘wealth’ as owning one home and one car,
whereas others consider themselves rich if they are able to rent an apartment
and not own a car, but perhaps use their money to travel, while others require a
home and a summer cottage, and several cars and maybe even a boat in order to
feel as though they have achieved the requisite level of wealth. Some people
will say that they are rich if they have freedom to do as they like and can
come and go as they please; they may not be interested in owning many material
possessions. So what then is the definition of ‘poor’? Individuals who rent an
apartment and do not own a car, a vacation cottage or an expensive boat—are they to be considered poor if they are content with their economic situation?
Can society force that definition upon them? To me these are difficult
questions to ponder, let alone answer.
There seems
to be a lot more envy now in society than
I can remember from when I grew up. You need only look at a newspaper to
understand that; if the rich open their mouths and tell the less rich how to live or what to do, or
if they in any way go overboard in terms of flaunting their wealth, the less
rich will tell them in no uncertain terms to shut up or try to take them down a
few notches, again using the media to do so. But they do it in a way that
smacks of envy.
Perhaps
globalization and a relentless media have made us more aware of the haves and the have-nots. We again need only turn to the media for them to tell us
how the rich live; all the gory details are there for our perusal. The danger
is that constant immersion in the media-created focus on wealth fosters a false
sense of reality--that all people can achieve wild levels of wealth, if only…….And who knows if this way of
thinking has contributed to high levels of personal debt—in the craze to have
as many material possessions as possible, even if it means personal ruin.