"Always get married in the morning. That way, if it doesn't work out, you haven't wasted the whole day."
Ha! That from the recently departed Mickey Rooney, who was married 8 times during his 93-year life. Of course I know who he was, but I was never a big fan. The childhood actor's heyday was long before I was born, and in his later years he was a successful Broadway actor, a medium I never much cared for. Still, based on his wit, I think I like him. :) RIP Mickey.
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Something a bit more thought provoking: I saw one of those "The seven most..." lists on the internet, so of course I had to read it. (I'm a real sucker for those.) This one was about the seven wealthiest present or former NFL players, and includes names like Joe Montana, John Elway, and Brett Favre. Number one was Roger Staubach, worth $600M.
Roger was / is a very stand up guy, a former Naval Academy scholar-athlete who played for the Dallas Cowboys back in the 1970's. But his money didn't come so much from football, but from real estate. While he was still playing he worked in the off-season learning the commercial real estate business.
After he retired from football he started his own company, hired some sharp people, and thrived. A few years ago he sold his business for $640M, and now I learned that at that time he only owned 12% of his company. Over the years he had given the other 88% equity interest to his employees.
It just goes to show that you can be a good guy, reward and acknowledge those around you, and still get rich yourself. It's such a nice contrast from those who want to pay their employees coins while they're raking off mega-millions of dollars for themselves.
Which leads to this segue: I don't understand greed. I know it's one of the seven deadly sins and all that, but I don't get it. Why do some people go to the lengths they do to acquire as much as they do?
I mean, I love smoked sausage. We had some for dinner last night. If I was more affluent I'd have a freezer with a dozen rings of sausage in it. And if I somehow hit the financial mother lode, I'd have a thousand rings of sausage. And if I won the lottery, I'd own 10,000,000 rings of sausage.
Wait....what? Why would I do that? It would be more than I could ever eat in 10 lifetimes. What's the point? Why do some people stiff others just so they can put another billion dollars in the bank, along with the other billions they already have? Does the concept of "doing good" ever cross their mind? With a few exceptions, I'm thinking not.
I certainly believe in enjoying the fruits of your labor, but at some point it just gets ridiculous. I don't understand greed.
S
There have been plenty of NFL players who thought they'd have enough money for a lifetime only to end up bankrupt later on. Still I get queasy if I ever see one of those "Cribs" type shows where a celebrity goes around showing off their fancy house. It's always like, "The money you spent on that solid gold Jacuzzi could have fed like a million kids!"
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that people intent on accumulating vast sums of money have very little appreciation for the value of things. I know it sounds like a joke waiting for a punchline but I truly believe the important things in life can't be bought or sold.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing worse than having too much money is having none. It's a matter og what you do with it as you said.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree! I don't get greed either...
ReplyDeleteGood point, but I have to say there are a lot of people out there with gobs of money that also work hard at giving it away responsibly. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet to name two, I am guessing there are lots out there that give and give on the QT.
ReplyDeleteLOL at Mickey Rooney!
ReplyDeleteAccumulating money so that your kids can inherit gobs of it is highly overrated. Was it Warren Buffett who said something about leaving your kids enough to do anything they want, but not enough to do nothing?