Quite awhile ago someone asked me “if it’s not about the money, what is it about?” I thought I knew the answer but found it wouldn’t roll off my tongue as clearly as I expected it to. I was a bit dismayed. And, at the same time, I often found myself laughing “but I seem to remember someone saying—It’s Not About the Money!” when I caught myself stewing over a financial decision or caught up in the minutiae of possible financial consequences. So, more and more I’ve been pondering, what is the problem with money in the biggest sense—from the view one mile up. What causes individuals, nations and our world in general to have such a conflicted, volatile life with money?
Then it came to me and it seemed so simple. It’s not about the money, it’s about relationships. We get into trouble over and over again because we put money ahead of relationships. And, by doing so, we give our power to money and take it away from our relationships. I think there’s a reason we hear, “Power to the People!”
Think about it. When the banks and mortgage lenders collapsed—what was behind it? People making decisions based on the bottom line, instead of making the right decision for the person in front of them or our society/nation/world? When investment managers like Bernie Madoff and others acted as they did, money came first—people and relationships? Not even second. And, if we start talking about the 1%? “It’s all about me and my money, and not a thing about my relationships with anyone or everyone I interact with.
Anyway, I’ve been testing my thinking and in my opinion (although I may be a bit biased) it holds water. If we make decisions, any decision, based on how it affects the relationships in our life—locally and globally—instead of how it affected our money, would the world look different?
I think yes. What do you think?