Making Other People Rich
What a silly idea. I have to pay my bills, take care of my family and myself. Why should I worry about making other people rich? No one is standing around trying to make me rich. In fact, most businesses are trying to make me poor by charging high prices, interest rates and taxes. The mortgage failures, stock scandals and pension cancellations are all about taking as much money as possible from people like me to make the business leaders rich at our expense. You bet I don’t think about making other people rich.
Enriching others is not an economic principle; it is an attitude toward life. It goes along with having a generous heart and enjoying a prosperity consciousness. The saying “the more you give, the more you get” falls into the category of making others rich.
We actually make other people rich when we pay our bills. Lots of people benefit from our willingness or the necessity of paying our bills. When we buy a tank full of gas we make others rich. The employees at the filling station, the truck drivers that deliver the gas to the station, the workers at the refinery, the oil company, the stock holders, the ship crews that carry the crude oil from foreign lands, the oil drillers, the owners of the oil wells and so on. The same chain goes on in the food, clothing, communications and all industries that we depend on and enjoy. We may argue that some people in that chain are paid minimum wage while others take home enormous profits. That inequity is certainly true. When we pay our bills we provide money for many people in our society and they are enriched by our actions of paying the bills. When we see those positive results of spending our money, our consciousness and attitudes may change.
Instead of seeing the bill paying as a problem, we could see it as a way of enriching others, of helping other people live and indeed prosper. I am writing about an attitude of heart and mind, a way of looking at how we spend our money. Instead of hoarding our money and trying to spend the least amount we can on what we buy, we can see that whatever we buy not only helps others but also makes other people rich. It also trains our minds to be prosperous.
In 1995 Malden Mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts burned to the ground. “…the CEO and owner of the family run business decided to continue to pay his thousands of idled workers for a full six months! It was a decision that ended up bankrupting the three generation old company, but Aaron Feuerstein, the CEO and owner, says: ‘Maybe on paper our company is worthless to Wall Street, but I can tell you it's worth more’” He saw that paying his employees was his moral duty. He may not have put it this way but he was making his employees rich rather than impoverishing them.
Making other people rich works on me also. I can feel generous and giving. I also may take more responsibility about what I choose to buy.
A way to put this into practice to is watch what we think and say when we have to make a choice about buying something. To make it personal, I have enough money to buy an expensive Mercedes. I am tempted to say to myself and others, “I can’t afford a Mercedes.” The fact of the matter is that I am quite able to buy the car but I choose not to spend my money on that particular car. I do not choose to go into debt or spend my savings for that purchase. Prosperity consciousness acknowledges the truth that I have the money needed for the car. I have choice in the matter. I choose not to spend my money on that car.
Many people give up their lives for their money. Men and women are willing to work 24/7 to earn more income or make their company more profitable with the hope of big stock options upon retirement or when leaving the company. Physical health is harmed, families are broken and relationships shattered.
A woman friend said to her husband, who after retiring twice took on another high-paying job involving extensive traveling, “How much is enough? We have two homes, two new cars, our children have finished school, and we have plenty of money to live on. How much is enough?”
Certainly this man is making others rich by creating jobs and spending money. It seems he is making himself poor by recklessly working.
The willingness to make others rich involves making one’s self financially stable, yet taking responsibility for how the money is spent and its effect on one’s self.
To reiterate, making others rich is not an economic theory. It is a way of looking at money and one’s self. It relates to our character and consciousness. It is an attitude toward life.
Enriching others is not an economic principle; it is an attitude toward life. It goes along with having a generous heart and enjoying a prosperity consciousness. The saying “the more you give, the more you get” falls into the category of making others rich.
We actually make other people rich when we pay our bills. Lots of people benefit from our willingness or the necessity of paying our bills. When we buy a tank full of gas we make others rich. The employees at the filling station, the truck drivers that deliver the gas to the station, the workers at the refinery, the oil company, the stock holders, the ship crews that carry the crude oil from foreign lands, the oil drillers, the owners of the oil wells and so on. The same chain goes on in the food, clothing, communications and all industries that we depend on and enjoy. We may argue that some people in that chain are paid minimum wage while others take home enormous profits. That inequity is certainly true. When we pay our bills we provide money for many people in our society and they are enriched by our actions of paying the bills. When we see those positive results of spending our money, our consciousness and attitudes may change.
Instead of seeing the bill paying as a problem, we could see it as a way of enriching others, of helping other people live and indeed prosper. I am writing about an attitude of heart and mind, a way of looking at how we spend our money. Instead of hoarding our money and trying to spend the least amount we can on what we buy, we can see that whatever we buy not only helps others but also makes other people rich. It also trains our minds to be prosperous.
In 1995 Malden Mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts burned to the ground. “…the CEO and owner of the family run business decided to continue to pay his thousands of idled workers for a full six months! It was a decision that ended up bankrupting the three generation old company, but Aaron Feuerstein, the CEO and owner, says: ‘Maybe on paper our company is worthless to Wall Street, but I can tell you it's worth more’” He saw that paying his employees was his moral duty. He may not have put it this way but he was making his employees rich rather than impoverishing them.
Making other people rich works on me also. I can feel generous and giving. I also may take more responsibility about what I choose to buy.
A way to put this into practice to is watch what we think and say when we have to make a choice about buying something. To make it personal, I have enough money to buy an expensive Mercedes. I am tempted to say to myself and others, “I can’t afford a Mercedes.” The fact of the matter is that I am quite able to buy the car but I choose not to spend my money on that particular car. I do not choose to go into debt or spend my savings for that purchase. Prosperity consciousness acknowledges the truth that I have the money needed for the car. I have choice in the matter. I choose not to spend my money on that car.
Many people give up their lives for their money. Men and women are willing to work 24/7 to earn more income or make their company more profitable with the hope of big stock options upon retirement or when leaving the company. Physical health is harmed, families are broken and relationships shattered.
A woman friend said to her husband, who after retiring twice took on another high-paying job involving extensive traveling, “How much is enough? We have two homes, two new cars, our children have finished school, and we have plenty of money to live on. How much is enough?”
Certainly this man is making others rich by creating jobs and spending money. It seems he is making himself poor by recklessly working.
The willingness to make others rich involves making one’s self financially stable, yet taking responsibility for how the money is spent and its effect on one’s self.
To reiterate, making others rich is not an economic theory. It is a way of looking at money and one’s self. It relates to our character and consciousness. It is an attitude toward life.
posted by RWC | 5:05 PM
1 Comments:
My wife and I have been trying to make major purchases to help out the economy. Instead of buying a used freezer, which would have been the thrifty thing to do, we paid $500 for a new freezer from SEARS. We put it in the garage and used it to store food items bought on sale.
The salesman at SEARS was a lovely guy from India working a second job to put his daughter through medical school. An honest man, he told us the freezer was "junk" and not to expect it to last like the one we had for 30 years.
The new freezer lasted barely 3 months before breaking down. We had approximately $250 worth of food in it, causing a mad scramble to get the most valuable things into the limited space in our refrigerator/freezer in the house.
Today, a replacement freezer is being delivered. How long will it last? That's anybody's guess. It is not just the U.S. auto industry that has been producing poorly designed, shoddy products.
The American economy needs more than people willing to buy again. It needs dependable products that represent better value for the consumer.
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