Day 140: Response to criticisms of getting rich.
I have posted on my refrigerator, Carry Benjamins, not Jacksons.
I’m not sure what my block is, but I know one is there. Your writing is the second one I have heard speak about criticism of becoming wealthy. Now, I don’t know if that is my block, because money can run either hot or cold with me. I do believe my heart can be too kind and I help out more than I should, but I guess I have been ok with that because of my Christian beliefs knowing God always has my back. I have never been hungry and have always had good places to live.
The previous time I heard this about being afraid of criticism, she mentioned several reasons why this might be true. Mostly, in my case I could see friends feeling left behind more than my family — I could see the poorer people in my family just wanting me to help them out. lol. God bless their hearts. Oh, Lord.
When my parents died, mom first, dad ten months later, after our estate finally got settled, I had a cousin ask me how much I got (in inheritance). Can you believe it? I told her it was none of her business, and why would she even ask me that. It seems an aunt to both of us planted in her head that her “rich Uncle Jim” had money, and even went so far as to suggest that we let her family move into my parent’s house as we were getting it ready to put on the market. Really?? BTW she had a place to live so I don’t know why that was suggested unless it would have become a ‘squatters rights’ issue for us. It didn’t happen.
My parents were generous people and that might be why they thought we were rich. We weren’t but had a decent life, though we were probably considered more of the poorer in the neighborhood. We didn’t look like it. Not because my parents bought lavish things, but because they knew how to manage what money they had, and do DIY projects. Much of our food we grew, or dad hunted, or my older siblings worked on a local farm for eggs and dairy products. But, my dad WAS a controller of money. Maybe the circumstances of their growing up contributed to that. Born after WWI, fall of Wall Street, Great Depression coupled with the Dust Bowl, WWII…
I keep tapping into the Masterclasses of those telling me how to make a 7 figure income, and how easy it is. Well, I’ve heard enough to know that it is not an over night thing, and there is much more work involved than they are selling. It always involves additional connections, and I know so much about that I feel like I could create an online course on teaching people what to be aware of when they see these things. (Hmmm..maybe that’s my new genius.) Now, I know that sometimes it could be true, but I also know that there is usually a painted rags to riches story (and that is probably true because the rich don’t bother with that sort of thing), but I do see the familiar threads.
That said, there is also truth laced into the stories and I think that you have to learn discernment. It is not to say that you won’t learn some valuable information about things, because you will, just don’t become discouraged that it didn’t work. Unless you win a lottery, getting rich over night is not going to happen. If you are the lazier type, probably not.
I did take to heart working towards a freedom metric. Mine came to about $23,000/month, per someone’s suggested formula. I casually mentioned it to a friend whose mother was sitting there listening, and the mom scoffed at me. I took a stare, and blew it off, but later in a conversation with my (previous) friend, I said, “Yeah your mom laughed at me for wanting to become something greater than I was”. I could see in the relationship that there were jabs to either discourage me, or make me feel little; hence, I dropped her.
I have another friend who would consider her race to be a contributing factor to her ‘poverty’, though she is not hungry or without a home, but with the exception that she has many siblings (8) and some of them have become decently wealthy and they are the same color as she, so that’s not it. It’s mindset, for sure.
So, I ask you, David, is it possible to become wealthy in your endeavors and just not tell anyone? I don’t need a bigger home than I have, as it is quite enough for me. But, getting wealthy would be noticed if I brought this diamond in the rough (house needs some work), into a fully polished, faceted gleaming stone into the light.
