Beautiful....Alizee

Money isn't everything...but I sure as hell love it. Don't you?

Yeah..we know this very well don't we, that 'money isn't every thing'? The phrase sickens me. Why pray tell, you must be thinking.

Let me try a few substitutions for the word 'money' in there:

1. 'Air' isn't everything
2. 'Sex' isn't everything
3. 'Banana' isn't everything
4. 'Food' isn't everything
5. 'A house' isn't everything.

Well yes, I hope you get the point? You don't? Let me spell it out. 'No one thing' or 'Class of things' is every thing!! Got it? Sorry I can't help any more. Leave it here if you can't grasp it. Don't read on if you can't get the point.

For those who can see where I'm coming from, I am absolutely amazed by the stupidity of the statement 'Money isn't everything'. Logically it is a nonsensical statement.

Ooooh but now we're meant to interpret things in figurative way at times. So let me have a go at it. In broad brush the statement could mean that money isn't meant to be the highest priority in life. First of all I could agree with that for people who do not live in social democracies and capitalist based systems. And certainly at the centre of the Sahara or Arctic Tundra, money is unlikely to be the highest priority.

But what if you live in a capitalist system. I observe how people operate. In large part they go to work to get paid. Paid what? Money - I suppose. Their lives revolve around money - earning it, saving it, investing it, buying food, houses and cars with it etc etc. And yet ...yet..these are the same people who go 'Money isn't everything' - when in reality money is such a high priority. In fact it probably is the highest priority, because without enough of it, they can't enjoy those lovely holidays and quality family times they brag on about as being of higher priority (than money).

Oh no...but we can't appear to be driven by money! Nooooh...money is a bad thing isn't it. And we can't be seen to be materialistic. We're better people than that. We can't love money....we must instead...love nature...wild-life, planet earth, the environment and the poor suffering people of this earth. Now we're in the right crowd. But money? Ooooh noooooooh...loving that means you're a selfish, self-obsessed git. Yuh know - one of those Scrooge types.

Well, I'll tell you what I think. People - including those who may think they are my buddies - are guilty of hypocrisy for going "Urrhhhh...murhney isn't everything". We love to delude ourselves and to live up to false images. False images? Yes. The one where you really love the money, it is almost everything, but you declare that you're really not like the money grabbing riff-raff - because you want to improve your public image or even fool yourself about your own image.

Money is a very powerful marker of success and it allows us to enjoy life with a greater degree of freedom. People who go 'Money isn't everything' are usually the ones who most need it - and they will continue invariably to be enslaved by it (consciously or unconsciously). And yes money can lead to destruction. How we use the 'knife' is up to us - to carve a beautiful object, prepare a meal, carry out surgery, or to inflict harm to self or others.

I love money. "Money!" Say it. Say it. Next time you go to take photos of someone or a crowd, instead of telling them to say 'CHEESE', ask them to shout "MONEY! MONEY! MONEY". It's guaranteed to bring out bigger brighter smiles or even laughter! Try it!