“While money
can't buy happiness,
it certainly
lets you choose your own form of misery.”
~Groucho Marx
Someone said to me, “Rose the integrity you are showing is honourable and your (said)
unwavering commitment to your values and what you stand for is commendable. BUT,
all that means to me is that you haven’t gotten a good enough offer yet!
EVERYONE definitely has their price.”
I couldn’t refute or argue his statement. This
had me thinking… and I came to the conclusion that - YES - in most matters of
life, we have to make decisions. Sometimes those decisions test us at the very
core of who we are, and make us re-evaluate what we stand for. We all indeed have a price that can sway our
first instinct, or our first programmed response. More than often, what is
offensive (at first) can start to look pretty good with the right incentive. And what is the
easiest, biggest and most persuasive incentive in the world: MONEY. The promise
of easy cash makes the world turn at a faster pace. He then continues:
“Rose,
I’ll give you $2000 cash if you eat a cockroach!” Now,
I would definitely try to up the cash pay-out, but for that amount… I’ll cover
the roach with hot sauce and take it down with wine (the thought already makes
me want to barfL).
“Rose,
I’ll give you $10,000 cash if you stand in a closet full of flying moths for 3
minutes!” Understand this; I have a phobia of those
creatures BUT I will die (metaphorically) trying to earn that money (I’ll pray
that I faint after 2 seconds).
“Rose,
I’ll give you $300,000 cash if you go and live in an underground fallout
shelter for 6 months, eating nothing but survival rations with no
TV/internet/radio!” (at this point, we are starting
to play with my emotions…)
“Rose, I’ll give you $1,000,000 cash if you give up a kidney” Do I really need both kidneys???
“Rose, I’ll give you $1,000,000 cash if you give up a kidney” Do I really need both kidneys???
And who has forgotten the movie “Indecent
Proposal,” where Demi Moore got offered $1,000,000 for a night of romance with
someone other than her husband?
Well… “Rose,
I’ll give you $5,000,000 if you sleep with… or let the hubby sleep with…” The hubby and I are having a
conversation immediately!!!
You all have heard of this expression,
“There is no such thing as free lunch.” Well… all that easy money you – potentially
- are willing to “earn” (you better believe) has consequences and underlying
strings attached, that will uncover itself in due time. You will have to be
ready to deal with the fallout (good or bad) of your choices… nothing is ever
as is seems…
But where I stand today, I clearly know
where my limits are… There is no amount of money that will make me deliberately
hurt (physically or mentally) someone, cause voluntary pain or be a wilful
participant in someone’s unnatural demise… The damages caused would be
irreversible to the afflicted one but even worse, they would haunt my
conscious… my soul.
“To sell your soul is the easiest thing in the world.
That's what everybody does every hour of his life.
If I asked you to keep your soul –
would you understand why that's much harder?”
~ Ayn Rand
When we start worshiping money instead of
controlling it, that is when we lose perspective on what is wrong and what is
right. And instead of standing for something, we put ourselves in a position of
falling for anything and everything. "MONEY IS A GOOD SERVANT BUT A BAD
MASTER."
What
good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?
Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16:26
Keep in mind that Jesus was laid down to
redeem our souls and give us back possession of them; clean for a new start and
now you are talking about giving it away for mere gain in comparison. If once
the soul is lost, it is lost for ever. There is no restitution —counter-price,
that can be paid, or will be accepted. It is a loss that can never be repaired,
never be retrieved. That new mortgage will never be taken off; there remains no
more sacrifice for sins, nor price for souls, and the equity of redemption is
eternally prohibited.
To gain everything the world has to offer
you and lose your soul in the process means you have gained nothing and lost
everything.
While we have to strive for a certain level
of comfort in life, and work toward achieving goals - better, more for
ourselves and our families - we have to be sober. Trying to achieve the
American Dream by building all kinds of things for ourselves here on earth is
fine, but we have to remember that the key word is STUFF (houses, cars,
properties, social status, money, etc.). In the end these things won’t matter…
You can’t take them with you. If you die with riches in the bank but with a
bankrupt and neglected soul, you have less than nothing. At the end of your
road, for that last trip you will take - the only luggage allowance you will
have is that of your soul… make it weighty, and count for something; for it is
the key to your eternal life.
Yes, I do believe that everyone definitely
has their price. They maybe just don't know it yet, as they haven’t received a
good-enough offer, or they know the worth of their soul and recognize that God
already paid the ultimate price for it. Therefore, it is good to be wise in
time, and do well for ourselves. Live each day in the light of eternity… don’t
lose sight of it. No matter how great the potential reward, even gaining the
whole world, the cost of getting there will include an irreversible change in
yourself that is so bad for you that it will make you unhappy - regardless of
what you have gained or think you have gained…
My dear friends, what are your thoughts on this subject? Do you have a price? Do you have boundaries in what you will allow money to sway you or your convictions are simply unwavering... no matter what?
RosieSandz
Image courtesy of hragvartanian.com
