In the context of a free-enterprise nation, such as ours, where business and capital are products of individual initiative, the will to accumulate wealth is not only acceptable but deemed commendable. The charge of “hoarding,” an element related to OCD, appears to have no contextual application to the capitalistic drive to accumulate wealth, which is universally approved and positively perceived as “ambition.” In fact, the individual seen as lacking in ambition is socially deprecated.
Nor is the demonstrated desire for the personal accumulation of money, seen as analogous to a nuanced lust for “motorcars” of ” Mr. Toad,” in the English children’s story, “Wind in the Willows.”
At this early and somewhat unconventional stage of this writing, we, nevertheless, cannot resist the yet unrelated, objective declaration that the sum of one billion dollars is the equivalent of one thousand million dollars, and that Elon Musk leads his many contemporary billionaires with an astronomically huge net worth of approximately 850 billion dollars. The Nation boasts a substantial number of multi-billionaires, such as Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Ellison, of whom it is bizarrely apparent that American financial superheroes uniformly evince an enduring drive for yet further financial success. It is this factual conundrum that underlies the motivation for this writing.
For illustrative purposes, we have elected to thematically analogize the drive for the acquisition of capital assets in the astronomical amounts of multi-billions to the simp ownership of the American harmonica; the latter, unlike the former, is a predictable source of inner peace and private gratification. The habitual harmonica player requires but one (favorite) harmonica or perhaps as many as two or three. to derive responsive pleasure, ultimate peace, and satisfaction. A prodigious inventory of the same would, empirically, provide no greater pleasure than the one or two favorites, regularly and contentedly played by him.
In theory, were we suddenly the beneficiary of one billion or, even, one million dollars, we would, nevertheless, similarly conduct our lives. No sane individual requires the sum of one thousand million ( or huge multiples of the same) to live in satisfactory and complete comfort. In our view, 850 Billion Dollars is no different than one million dollars, in the context of the human desire for fulfillment. We are unable to appreciate the lust for ultimate supremacy in material acquisition, and very much appreciate not being a contestant in what can only be described as a chronically egoistic, neurotic contest.
We have just finished a completely satisfying lunch, costing approximately $9.00, and are happily anticipating purchasing a best-selling hardcover novel at Barnes and Noble for the sum of $21,00.
-p.
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