by lawnchair » Thu 08 Jan 2009, 21:30:04
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Denny', 'B')eing in my 50's, I find the beauty of nature, simple travel, the wisdom of the gospels and the change of seasons are something I enjoy experiencing more than any other time in my life.
For me, though I have some degree of material comfort, I could be just about as happy living on tuna sandwiches, and having no car, as long as I have my friends to talk to and my physical heatlh stays intact. That is not something I could have said in my thirties or forties.
For you who worry so much in your youth, while it is one thing to seek wisdom and to take good counsel learning from the mistakes and problems you see around you, do not dwell or worry much about these. Look forward to your middle years of life to come, and do not be materialistic.
I'm with you 100%, and am in my early 30s (and have been philosophically inclined so since I hung the painting of Diogenes of Sinope in the back of my junior high locker).
The thing is, except for blind sudden luck, no one with such a perspective on things becomes a multi-millionaire. They get to their first million or three and stop. Honestly, if a tax-free million dollars dropped in our lap tomorrow, my wife and I would get 10 acres near friends, goats, gardens, and not 'work' again beyond enjoyable odd jobs. To strive for more is, perhaps, more 'normal' than my 'lilies of the field' perspective. But, it indicates my mind is in no way on the same wavelength as a 'pigman', so I can't expect to understand their motivations any more than they'd understand mine.
There's also the fact that, if you've lost that much of other people's money, perhaps choosing your death may seem more pleasant than the Russian Mafia's eventual plan for your demise.
At 1% annual growth, human bodies will incorporate every gram in the observable universe in approximately 10,170 years.