Heroes Not Zombies

We all need money. Can’t live without it. And money is very unequally distributed which means some don’t have enough to live on and others have so much they don’t know what to spend it on.

My concern though is that our societies have become too money oriented. Money has become a god. It’s presented as the top priority over all else. We hear a lot these days about debt, both personal and national (although these two kinds of debt are really not alike!) and about “growth”, “wealth” and “profit”, without much detail behind these words. I even heard U.K. politicians talk about creating an “aspiration society” when they proposed reducing taxation for those earning over £150,000 a year.

Aspiration is not all about money. I worked all my life as a doctor and never aspired to earn over £150,000 a year. I don’t know any doctors, nurses, carers, teachers who do. In fact very few people in the world ever do aspire to, or expect to, earn over £150,000 a year. They have other, non-financial motives.

I’ve heard the U.K. described as “U.K. PLC” as if it’s a business. It isn’t. A country is people living together. It’s a community. We should aspire to creating a healthy community which enables individuals to flourish, to develop their talents, to thrive physically, mentally and spiritually.

Somehow we need to put money back in its rightful place – a good servant – because it’s a terrible master. Greed isn’t good. It’s destructive.

Here’s the poet, John Clare – “Poor greedy souls – what would they have/ beyond their plenty given?/ Will riches keep ‘em from the grave?/ or buy them rest in heaven?”