Money Isn't Edible

“Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.”  -- Cree Indian Proverb

Recently, I had an epiphany that I should have had a long time ago. It really shouldn’t have surprised me; after all, we learn from an early age that money is the root of all evil, money makes the world go round, everything is about money…

And yet, I just now learned that everything is about money!

I don’t mean it the way we usually do—about politicians, businesses, etc. I mean it about normal, everyday people.

After the healthcare bill passed, people grew more aggressive and politically divisive than usual—at least in my world. I felt uncomfortable posting anything on my Facebook account, as my friends are about evenly split between the “left” and “right” and I felt as if I’d be attacked for anything I wrote! Indeed, many people were, and much hate was flying around.

This hate, I think, at least from many people, came from an obsession with money. Not only were these people outraged about their “tax dollars” being spent on paying for “other people’s healthcare,” they also went on about how they didn’t like the money being spent on anyone else, period—from the elderly to the poor to even children.

The thing is, many of these people are very nice. Some are people I’d call if I had a flat tire, and I know they’d come to help in a moment’s notice. They’re not jerks, and they’re willing to help out family members, friends, and maybe even strangers—unless money is involved.

Throw in the money, and boy do things heat up! Why do we have to spend so much time being obsessed with our money and where it goes? I agree that we should handle money with care lest it do just this—take over our lives. Coming from a low-income family and having spent most of my life being made fun of as such, I know what it feels like to be obsessed with money from that angle. I also knows what it feels like to receive such “handouts,” as we did often when I was a child—a mixture of gratitude, shame, and secrecy.

Now an adult and a parent, I know how it feels to worry. I know how it feels to have to make ends meet, live from check to check, and struggle to buy healthy food and pay bills and get your child medical care. The thing is, I don’t want it to be that way, and I’d never wish these struggles on any other person.

If these programs—anything from health care to education to food stamps—were run by some anonymous fund rather than tax dollars, I bet we’d see much more support. People get very testy when it’s their own money in question. The funny thing is, the countries who seem most happy and healthy are the ones who spend the most taxes for everything from lengthy maternity leave to college to health care—and they like living the way they do. Of course, it’s what they know; and what we have is what we know. If only we could swap ideas and experiences at some big international slumber party…!

I’m happy to give taxes to people in need and willingly do so every day. I’ve been in needy situations and know that all of us are only a single step away from such a life at any moment. Recently on the amazing Life program, I witnessed a chimpanzee sharing with another chimpanzee, exhibiting kindness and compassion. If we really claim to be that much evolved over our brothers who resemble us so much, how can we turn away from our fellow humans so staunchly? If we could stop valuing money like it’s food and instead simply value people, wouldn’t we be better for it—both as a society and as human beings?