Giving and Money
We live in a society where the act of giving seems to be contained within certain holidays. We see giving illustrated as a good deed during Thanksgiving and Christmas in the United States. These are occasions that we prepare for, that we look forward to every year. We give to our family members, to our friends, to those within our circle of acceptance.
There are different kinds of giving though, and these differences are what make the things we give important. When you give someone cash, you aren't just giving them money to spend on anything that interests them, you're giving them a piece of your life. Every transfer of money or goods is the transfer of that time spent earning it. If I were to make ten dollars an hour at my job, and give you twenty dollars, I would be giving you two (not accounting for time not working...) general hours of my life. These are hours that I did not sit down in dedication to you specifically, but rather are hours from the bank of hours in my life that you may have. However when one creates something for an individual, though it may cost little, the time they put into the thought and creation of that good or service is direct time spent for that person. This time is invaluable in my opinion. It shows that on top of the time I'm willing to spend with you in person, I spend part of my life thinking of you for no other reason than that you mean something more than our day to day lives show. I agree with Gibran when he says "you give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give."
Let me take a moment to expand on the concept of money as a form of time. If we take for granted this concept that money is equivalent to a certain amount of time spent earning it, then spending that money takes on another meaning. When you go to McDonalds, you aren't getting a hamburger for a just dollar, you're trading a segment of your life and your hard work for it. When you go to Wal-Mart you are being enticed to spend small segments of your life. You are being nickel-and-dimed to death by products you don't need. We create false need through the comforts of our lives, things that resemble need very closely yet aren't. Because of these false needs we work harder and for longer to satisfy ourselves. We trade life for trinkets and watch hours that could have gone towards the growth of a cause fade with rust and dust and decomposition. We could have spent those hours fighting for a cause or building a movement or discovering something or creating beauty. Instead we spend them on material objects that simply de-value in time. They say buying a car is one of the worst investments you can make. The second you drive it off the lot it begins to devalue at an astonishing rate. I say that nearly all material objects (save art and books and music etc.) are a poor investment, they all deteriorate in time. Giving of yourself however, that is something that grows with time. That is something that makes a lasting impact. Spending 5 hours with an underprivileged youth every week is an investment that can create a more stable and loving person. And the world can use all the loving people it can get.
-J
P.S. If this doesn't make any sense that's cool, it was kind of a stream-of-thought kind of thing more than a specific topic. I'd still like to know what you think though! Comments, questions, disagreements?
Once again you astound me with your insight. I have always thought that time and effort put into a gift mean much more than simple money. The only exception is when I have it within my power to buy them something the REALLY want that would be a appreciated more then anything I can make.
ReplyDeleteYour ideal of money is true in many cases, but the value of money is also dependent on the person and their own thoughts about what brought about their money.
~Summer
I agree that the cumulative value of money is influenced by the individual's idea of it, that's exactly why I wrote this. The idea of "investment" of time is crucial here. I believe that save for a few items that increase the beauty and knowledge of the world, spending time earning money in order to buy material objects is a poor choice. Spending time earning money is not a poor choice, as money is just a transitional form for time. It is not selfish for Bill Gates to spend an hour working instead of spending an hour with a child, because his hourly salary outweighs the impact he could make with a child in an hour. With that money he made, he could send that same child to a better school for a year, obviously a better use of time. Of course, all of this is dependent on what is done with the money after it is earned. What my argument is intended to do is to make you think about the cash in your wallet a little bit more every time you take it out. To look at it in a different way and think every time you make a purchase "Is this the best way I could be spending my time (literally)? Is this item worth the amount of effort I put into earning it and could that same nugget of time be spent in a better manner?" These are questions we should all think about when we spend. Maybe we'd be able to stop pushing the boulder up the mountain and realize that it's fine where it is.
ReplyDeleteVery profound, Joey. I wish I had your insight when I was your age. Although I've volunteered much of my lifetime to civic and such like organizations, I didn't think of money in the way you express it. If I had.....? G. Noni
ReplyDeleteI really like this theory, because i feel like it validates my gaming methods. Considering that I have 14 days of playtime on Modern Warfare 2, which adds up to 336 hours of gaming goodness and I paid about $64 for the game itself, I'm paying about $0.19 an hour to play MW2. Further taking into account that I make about $11 an hour, after doing the math, one minute of work for me is equivalent to one hour of gameplay, making for what must be one of the best work-to-value ratios I've ever seen (forgetting super-billionares, etc.). I'm pretty sure that your musings were not intended to help me validate my addictive gaming, but thanks, I used them for that purpose anyways. Now I feel like I have a great rebuttal anytime someone criticizes me for buying an expensive videogame: "Hey, in the long run this is going to end up costing me about 1 minute of my time per hour of pleasure, so don't give me any lip!"
ReplyDelete-K
Money
ReplyDeleteMoney comes and money goes
Blowing winds and winter snows.
Waxing now and waning then
Cycles come around again.
Sometimes thick and sometimes thin,
Changing state it’s always in.
Snow and blow melt and go,
Time will change it --- that I know.
Borrower nor lender be
Shakespeare said, we must agree.
In it comes and out it goes
Like the tide it ebbs and flows.
Taxed or spent or lost or lent
Always wonder where it went.
Highs and lows, joys and woes
Money comes and money goes.
JPO’B
Dad
Money
ReplyDeleteMoney comes and money goes
Blowing winds and winter snows.
Waxing now and waning then
Cycles come around again.
Sometimes thick and sometimes thin,
Changing state it’s always in.
Snow and blow melt and go,
Time will change it --- that I know.
Borrower nor lender be
Shakespeare said, we must agree.
In it comes and out it goes
Like the tide it ebbs and flows.
Taxed or spent or lost or lent
Always wonder where it went.
Highs and lows, joys and woes
Money comes and money goes.
JPO’B
Dad