The Paper Chase

If I were a millionaire.... Those thoughts are probably not uncommon among the laymen on the street. Those dreams are why the casino, lucky draws and lotto businesses continue to thrive. Is there anything wrong desiring to be rich?

If we think objectively, there is nothing essentially bad about money itself. In fact, it is very useful to us. From ages past, man used money as a form of exchange for goods and services. We use it to buy food, clothing, a house, a car, an education and many more things. It looks more like a friend than an enemy. We cannot deny that we celebrate the rich and famous, not the poor and down trodden. Somewhere deep within us, we think that we will be most happy when we have become extremely wealthy. Then we can walk in the midst of our fellow humans and silently announce that "I have arrived".

I have not been born with a silver spoon, but I have also never experienced real poverty. I can only imagine the extent of the desperation and misery through stories I have read and heard about. To many, poverty reduces the individual to the fear of his or her means of survival in this world. They do not have a choice and very often there is nowhere to escape. Given a choice, no ordinary human being would choose to be poor. Yet, when one is in dire straits and still refuses to receive help, than pride has taken over.

How then should I view money? As a middle class citizen, I am grateful for the education that I have been given. It allows me to pursue a respectable career. In fact, I am very much a part of the paper chase. It is expected that I should use whatever talents and skills I have to generate as much money as I can. Then I would have a comfortable sum of money for retirement and the future. I have not learned to condemn that.

I used to save up all my money and not use it for the present. But I have learned that wealth is a blessing that is to be shared with my family and other people around me. What could be more worthwhile than buying comforts for my own family members, investing in another person's education, spending it on meals together and fun activities together? Yes, we ought to save for the future, for our families. Yet, we do not know how much time we have on this earth. If for the present moment, we force ourselves to give up even on spending the money out of love; then perhaps we are missing out on living this momentary life to the fullest. It is like killing our own joy.

Surely money itself cannot buy happiness. It must not be the ultimate goal of our lives. It is true that the love of money is the root of all evil. But the wise will not despise or shun it. It should be given its rightful value. For without it, how can the parent feed and clothe his family? Without it, how can a government build schools and hospitals, to create employment for everyone and for some to even get a glass of clean drinking water? We should not make money our 'god' so much so that we are subservient to it and we place our entire security in it. Rather, we should be good stewards of money and use it for the good of the society around us.


A friend used to tell me that most of our life problems are really not that big. If money can solve that problem, just pay it. Where money cannot solve it, then that truly is a problem. We should realise that money is not God. It has a limit to its usefulness. We ought to stand back and realise that God is the Giver of all our blessings. He alone is bigger than all our problems for His hand controls the universe. Our worship rightfully belongs to him and not to a created commodity called money. The next time we fish out a dollar from our pocket, think of these things and follow the ways of the wise.