I used to think that amassing a lot of money was morally wrong, and that people who did so were corrupt.
I still think that, but I also know that, in the world we live in, you need to amass money in order to experience safety and security; to be generous in ways that are meaningful and important; to support projects and initiatives that might not survive otherwise; and to live with greater confidence and less stress.
I used to think that investing in the stock market was participating in a global wrong that lined the pockets of pharmaceutical executives; corporate king makers; and the usurers that staff banks.
I still think that, but I also see doing so as the only real viable option for me, given my age and life circumstance, if I’m to have any hope of retiring by 70 years old. (However, I have my thinking cap on about this one, since everybody and his brother seems pretty sure that the stock market is about to tank but good.)
I used to think (really!) that money was the root of all evil.
Now I think that money buys happiness. Or at least creates margins against certain very real kinds of unhappiness and loss.
So my beliefs are grayer now, less black and white. Maybe they’re more nuanced; they’re certainly more complicated.
But I still believe in economic democracy and a much fairer distribution of wealth, between global north and global south; between individuals within countries.
I still believe that all the ways you can get clear of needing money are wildly valuable, in every sense of the word. These would include, but not be limited to:
*Learning how to do things yourself so you don’t need to pay others to do them, whether it’s fixing the toilet or changing the oil in your car.
*Learning how to provide for some of your own basic needs without exchanging money. One example might be planting tomatoes, squash, and beans from seeds you saved from your previous year’s crop in backyard soil enriched with compost you made from vegetable and fruit scraps throughout the year.
*Sharing services, space, and things with other people.
*Making, using stuff you find or that would otherwise end up in the waste stream. Like using pallets. Newspaper pots for seedlings. When my father died, he was making a solar water heater. It consisted of panels that had many bottom halves of aluminum cans (which he collected from the roadside, thus productively using stuff that would have otherwise ended up in the waste stream--an important value for him) that he carefully cut in half and spray painted black to absorb heat.
I value developing these skills that sidestep money exchange because relying on money for everything atrophies the creative, DIY muscles that we’re lucky to have. Who hasn’t seen something creative, fanciful, useful, surprising that someone else made and felt admiration and a stirring inside of some kind of desire to also do something creative, fanciful, useful, or surprising?