Christian Clifton believes we should strive towards a world that is less judmental. And that includes not judging how people spend their own money.
—
I was recently driving home from helping my brother move some furniture and flipping through the radio stations when a bit of DJ banter caught my attention. They were going on about the usual Hollywood gossip that doesn’t interest me at all but what stayed my finger above the seek button was a mention of the projected income for Britain from the “Royal Baby” of Kate Middleton and Prince William. The number they spoke seemed astronomical to me, $121 million was the number one DJ threw out while the other went on to list some of the trinkets and experiences that were being sold to interested parties. Being a moderately skeptical person I did a little research and found that this number is one of the more conservative estimates with some experts quoting figures as high as $400 million. My initial reaction was that of disgust at the fact that out there were millions of people spending money on such frivolities that surround that child of someone they will never see in person let alone know. I began to crunch numbers about how much good this money could do if applied properly, as I often do when I hear about outrageous uses of large sums of money (which if you are weird like I am; the low estimate, 121 million, could feed over 1.5 million children for a year according to Feed My Starving Children’s donation page).
I was a few equations in when I realize that I had to stop myself. I was unjustly judging these nameless, faceless people whom I know nothing about. I was ashamed at their frivolity when I had no knowledge of their true natures or motives. I heard that number and promptly told myself I was better than them because of what they were spending their money on. I do the same thing whenever I see someone extremely wealthy—even before I hear or see an action of theirs, my mind wants to wander to the ways in which I would use the money more wisely. It is all too easy for me to see the wealthy people in the world and call them out for not sharing their riches without knowing the truth of their finances. I play the “what if” game in my head and believe it or not I come out looking like a pretty stand-up guy compared to whoever they are interviewing on MTV cribs that day. It is equally difficult for me to see someone sitting in a church pew making a six figure income and knowing that the pastor and his family are living paycheck to paycheck. Instead of ever knowing how a wealthy person may have helped others, I take my limited knowledge and form a quick judgement about them.
♦◊♦
I quickly took the opportunity to reflect on myself and my own lust for money. Let me tell you, it was uncomfortable.
I spend plenty of money on non-necessities every day. I enjoy video games and movies, neither of which is essential to my existence. I go out to restaurants that would be considered beyond lavish in many countries without a second thought. Who am I to declare that these people should be spending their money in any other way than what they have already done? Just because the perfect self I have in my own head would do something different, the real me isn’t so sure I would. Is it important to want to take care of the needy? Yes but blaming others for not “doing their part” is not the way to go about it. It is hard for me to want to give up on my luxuries just as it is hard for everyone to. I live in a pretty low income part of town and there are plenty of days where I pass a homeless person on my way to buy groceries. I would love to help everyone I pass but sometimes it’s just not in the budget. On the other side of it, if my bank account suddenly grew a few extra zeros would I still be in such a generous mood? Would my desire to give money away disappear with extravagant wealth? It is incredibly easy to say that we would act a certain way in a given scenario. It’s easy to give away something that isn’t ours; it becomes that much more difficult to actually put my money where my mouth is (a perfect use for that phrase if there ever was one).
Those faceless people I judged earlier may already have donated their money and time to charity; why not let them find some joy in a goofy trinket about some famous baby? The wealthy woman in the pew next to me might have tithed plenty of her income and the church is struggling for some completely unrelated reason. That CEO might not believe what I believe about the world, so how can I justly look down on him for not living to my same credo? Besides if I were in his shoes could I say for certain I would spend any differently? Sure, in a perfect world the money spent on non-essentials would go to help those that don’t have enough for necessities, but the world we live in is far from perfect and we have the ability to chose what we do in our lives.
***
P.S. The radio DJ’s got me thinking about this but some of the ideas were inspired by a great blog written by the guys in the great band Emery, check out their thoughts on a similar topic here.
—
Originally published on amithehero.blogspot.com
photo by deltamike / flickr
I have just recently come across a service
which allows you to fill out or edit PDF
forms online without having to download any
software. I was able to print out my document
and even fax it online. Please check this
website http://goo.gl/fSrsKf
The iPad app works amazingly well too.
I’m sure you will definitely find the service
useful and easy to use. No harm in trying.
Christian, I understand what you’re saying but I’m not sure if it’s as much judging them on what they spend their money on but in general, how Americans live in excess. Whether it be the ultra rich or people who are scraping by. When you look at what some of the wealthy, often times you do see that they contribute to worthwhile charities and some actually get their hands dirty and work for worthy causes. What I struggle with is how the media glorifies the rich and famous with their life styles. For me personally, it’s not what I have… Read more »