Don't be cheap!

In my last post I wrote about gift giving, and how the price of a gift doesn't determine its value or its significance and I stand by that statement.  I also said that when people buy me gift certificates it depends on the person who bought it as to whether or not the amount would offend me.  These two statements do appear to contradict themselves so perhaps it's worth explaining how I reason this out in my mind.

There are people who are incredibly wealthy in life, and I don't mean in the sentimental riches of love and friendship, I mean they have money.  People like Jeff Bezos, who dances with Carlos Slim, and Bill Gates for pole position on the rich list who have more money than sense.  These are people who realistically would never spend their wealth in their lifetime.  Bill and Melinda Gates at least signed up the the Giving Pledge, a pledge that over 180 billionaires signed where they made the commitment to give away more than half their wealth in their lifetime to philanthropic causes.

That represents an extreme, and at the other end you have people who live day to day, who have to save literally every penny they have in order to be able to eat and heat themselves.  Of these two people, the former giving a £100 gift certificate would mean virtually nothing to them, it's such a small number that it's insignificant.  For the latter, to give you a gift of the same cost at £100 has a value that is almost immeasurable, to the extent where I would actually refuse the gift because I know they can't afford it and I would not feel right at all about accepting it.

Then there are the people in the middle, who labour under a delusion that they can become the former just by holding onto money.  No billionaire in history has made their wealth by sticking it in the bank and sitting on it.  Every single person who has ever became a billionaire did so by investing, acquiring, inventing, and all manner of entrepreneurial endeavour or through inheritance that leads back to one of those four.  To amass great wealth, you need to be in business, with an income that you increase until it provides that wealth for you.  You will never become a billionaire working 9 to 5, saving every penny in the bank and living a life where you spend as little as possible, the only thing you will achieve is to live a miser's life.

To that end, I see money as something which if you have it, you should spend it.  That's not to say you should spend every penny, you should be wise about your finances.  You should make investments and think of your future but you should not be afraid to actually spend it.  When you have that level of wealth your disposable income alone is more than most people will make in their lifetime, hoarding it achieves nothing in the long run, you can't take it with you when you die and if that wealth remains unspent in your family for generations what's the point of it in the first place other than separating you from the rest of humanity?  Do you think you can elevate yourself to an inhuman state if you make enough money?  The story of 'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens is one that left a lasting impression on me, not least of all because of the fact Dickens is one of my favourite authors, but because of the truth that he taps into when he created the character of Ebenezer Scrooge.  The tale is one that is a warning to people that in life the world will treat you the way that you treat it.  If you are a miser like Scrooge was, you will never experiences the true riches that life has to offer - and this time I do mean that in the sentimental sense.  The state of the world right now and the hatred that exists within it is the product of the division that exists in society and the wealth that has been hoarded by those at the top. As that divide widens, the discontent of those on the receiving end will grow.

Christmas is a time of year where I feel more than any other, you get to see the true character of a man, or a woman, or a person, or whatever pronoun you want to identify as, the point being, your true nature is displayed for all to see.  They say this time of year is one filled with cheer and good will to all mankind - that's not just a cliché that comes from stories of old, it is a truth that comes from the desire that lies within everyone to believe that they are a good person, and that this time of year is when you're expected to show that more than any other - of course if you've ever been Christmas shopping on Christmas week and seen people willing to slit each other's throats to get to the front of the queue when buying a Turkey then you'll be disillusioned with that sentiment and see it for what it really is, a bloodbath of consumerism.

Those behaviours however are borne of the stress and the expectations that we put on ourselves.  This time of year is one more than any other when it is inevitable that you will have to spend money, and there's very little you can do to avoid it.  Don't become obsessed with saving money at a time when you really can't achieve anything significant in the process, like a miser the only thing that you will gain is misery, that's where that word comes from, it's Latin root literally means "wretched" - so don't be cheap unless you want to be a wretched human being.  Spend what you can afford to spend and be mindful of those around you who can't afford to spend anything.