Pat C.
As I sat down to write my second column of the semester, I had so many thoughts and ideas about what I could say but I didn’t know how to express them. I mean, with the thought of graduating in a few months, the stresses of managing school and program work, and constantly getting out of myself, there is so much I could write about.
But the other day I was sitting in senior living skills at the Family Foundation School with Robin Ducey and the topic of money came up. The class began discussing what money is and its impact on human beings.
After a few minutes of discussion it was decided that money is a unit of value that is a necessity in life. I found this to be true because in America and throughout the world money is needed in order to survive.
According to Ducey, “A common view of money is that it can be a resolving force; if you have a problem and no solution, money can give you that solution.” This statement rang especially true for me but as the discussion went on I began to question whether money really is the solution. I thought to myself, “Yes, money can give me many material things that will make me happy for a short period of time, but will it give me true inner peace?”
I found for myself that the answer to that question is NO! I was able to reach this decision by thinking back on a situation dealing with money that changed my life forever.
I was 17 years old and after using drugs since the age of 12, all of the money I had earned working as a referee for soccer and lacrosse games was gone and I needed more to support my habit. I began to break into drug dealers’ houses for money. After a few successes, I was caught, arrested and put in jail, charged with armed robbery and breaking and entering.
Besides supporting my drug habit, money was everything to me and I thought that if I had money I would be happy. When my dad came and visited me in jail, I told him, “I robbed people because money is the most important thing in life, I don’t need family or anything as long as I have money.” He responded by saying, “Patrick, that is so untrue. Money is a necessity in life but it will not make you happy.” Today I am able to see the truth in what my father was saying.
Later in the class Ducey read an article about the effect money had on the people who have won the lottery. In many cases lottery winners spend all the money they win and end up bankrupt, and then wish they could do it all over again because they would do things differently.
This clearly shows that money cannot solve everything. Inner strength is necessary for people to be happy. Ducey said, “The person who doesn’t have inner stability if given money will lose everything.” This is what happened to the lottery winners and sadly, this could easily happen to me. I need to have an inner strength but I don’t always know where to find it.
There are a few principles that have helped me become a stronger person, not physically, but mentally and emotionally. Having and finding a relationship with God is the most important.
If I am able to pray and have faith in a higher power then I will be able to get through anything. This connection with a higher power also helps me not to act selfishly with regard to money and other aspects in my life.
Money can be the one thing that keeps people from receiving true happiness. It can serve as a temporary solution to problems but it will not make people happy. We need to remember what Nick Vujicic said in the film Life Without Limbs, “When we put our happiness into temporary things our happiness will be temporary, but when we put our happiness in God it will remain forever.” A connection with a higher power is the only thing that can give people true happiness.
