Apparently it is New Kids on the Block Day, so what
better group to quote a lyric from today. Sometimes you just need some great
boy band music to start your day.
This morning I received a call from a friend. I hadn’t
really talked to him in a while but I smiled when I saw his number pop up on my
phone. As soon as I picked it up and heard his voice, I knew something was off
about him. Come to find out, a girl just ended things with him. Now this wasn’t
a relationship of any great length, but it was still an end. What shocked me
about this conversation was not that the relationship ended (as shocking as
that is since he is wonderful), but the reason she ended it — he didn’t make
enough money for her.
He is a lot like me in the fact that we didn’t pick
professions that resulted in big paychecks, we both picked careers in college
that made us happy and had huge payouts in forms other than monetary. I
understand how he feels better than most since in the really recent past, a guy
did this to me. He didn’t respect, still doesn’t actually, my chosen career
path since it notoriously is low paying. I was Ok with it since I knew going
into the newspaper business wasn’t for money, it was for love. Before declaring
my major in college, I always thought that girls going after guys with money
was lazy, but it still hurts. I know the pain he is feeling today.
It did get me thinking, is this what we now base future
partners on? Is it going to become standard procedure to bring a bank statement
on first dates? Will the love you have for a certain career matter at all? You
devote your life to a nonprofit and making dreams come true but you don’t get
happily ever after with a love because you aren’t wealthy. It is quite sickening
to me. If that is the case, single life forever for me.
I totally understand the need for security, especially
if children are involved, but how much emphasis on money is enough? Will having
the fanciest toys really matter if you are not happy? Of course I like nice
things, hello I collect Barbies, but I also seek happiness. I seek love. If
money is the end goal in every decision you make, then I feel really bad for
you. You are missing out on the great things that money can’t buy. And like I
told my friend, someone that only wants the things money can buy really isn’t someone
you want to be around any way. Yes we all have these people in our life, but we
control just how much they are in our world.
Talking about money in relation to Laura Bush can be
laughable since she has more money than she ever could spend. But she didn’t
always. She didn’t grow up wealthy nor did she grow up poor. Her family worked
hard for everything they had and seemed to always be happy. Even when she
married the future President of the United States, they weren’t instantly
rolling in it. Oil business is tough and so is the political trail. But no
matter how much money she has, she is still kind to everyone. I can’t fathom
her ever turning her back on someone because they were poor in society’s eyes.
It is easy for me to say this since I am not wealthy, but if I wake up tomorrow
with all the money in the world, I would like to think I would still have the
class she demonstrates on a daily basis.
Judge the person, not the wallet. What would Laura
Bush do?
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