Lets face it. Eventually everything boils down to money. EVERYTHING. Yes! there are so many arguments against it, but lets remove money/earning power from the picture. We would all be living like animals, fending for food and needs on a daily basis, without plans and motives and dreams. Money makes it all happen, doesn’t it?

But like everything good, this dirty old man comes loaded with trouble; trouble to make more and more, trouble that you will never know how much is enough, trouble that you may never want to part with it for anything or anyone. There is a scrooge in all of us, may be not in the evident misanthrope way; but we all have troubles parting with the moolah we made from sweat and blood. We make exceptions, but that is again selfishness that acts; is it for a close kin? Is it someone dear who needs it? Should I be lending money to friends and risking the feel-good friendship? There are so many orphans in the world, I can’t really do much now, can i? Ya, so I pass by homeless people everyday, I can’t give my money to some stranger? Do i get tax benefits when I donate to this organisation?

I am no Samaritan. I am smitten by almost all of it too. I was simply making a statement and was wondering where it is all headed? And then I threw my hands up and wondered; pestilence, war, stock markets and greed have always been there. And Samaritans too in each of those eras. And when you take a step back and decide; ‘Ok I dont really need that new diamond set simply to boost my ego. I will give away that money to someone in need of it’ you are judged by the world for not being a family care-taker. To be always a good Samaritan, you must have no familial bounds. And if you simply care only for the family or yourself, you are a scrooge in the making. So how does one strike a balance? When can one say I have stored enough for a rainy day, I can share and part with the rest for the needy? And if all of us wait to be Bill Gates to get there, we can forget about playing the part of Samaritans in our life-times.

That brings us back to the very definition of money; sitting dirty, waiting to be touched, wanting to be parted in barter for worth, pride and inflating ego. And giving it away without returns is a gamble in itself, for you cannot be foolish to wait for a Samaritan to help you when you realize you can’t fend for yourself, for you were busy playing Samaritan!! A terrible irony in itself? Isn’t it?

Here is a piggy bank plan I had learnt from a friend when I was twelve – She would never spend on the sippups or candy everyday like most of us, but indulge once in a while when she really lets greed take over. No surprises, for the very same reason, we all thought she was weird. Instead she used to save the coins on days she didnt feel the need to give into greed. She said, she saved it for a rainy day. I dont know how she used it, but I do remember her piggy bank was heavy by the time we were fourteen, while most of us had proudly escalated to treating ourselves at the bakery already.

Imagine everytime you crave an indulgence that’s not at all necessary, and you ask yourself, if you really want it? If you can proudly happily say No to that, why not save it for a rainy day or someone’s rainy day, in a separate piggy bank that grows untouched? But, I bet it takes more than just determination to get there; for it involves fighting urges to ego boosting, peer-pressures and letting sound judgment and want to help take over. That in itself may take a life time for many, I am sure! Someday, I hope I can get there as a natural act, without doubting if it is infact perdition and misanthropist like. Someday, I am sure, one must rinse oneself of money, for money after all is always dirty!!

 

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